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Description: | Oil on canvas. Dissatisfied with his standard issue hessian army boots, Wellington asked a shoemaker named George Hoby, of St James's Street, to produce a superior pair. The improved boots were made in soft calf skin, with low heels, and rose to the mid-calf. The duke is seen here wearing the new boots, which are decorated with tassels. They soon became essential kit for British aristocrats and in 1852 American entrepreneur Hiram Hutchinson collaborated with American inventor Charles Goodyear to manufacture the first rubber Wellington boots.
Having lost the American colonies a few decades earlier, the Battle of Waterloo came to represent a turning point in the fortunes of Britain. On 18 June 1815, Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo in Belgium by an Anglo-Allied army under the command of the Duke of Wellington. In the following years the Battle came to be viewed as a defining moment in British history, celebrated throughout the 19th century.
This portrait was painted in 1815, the year Wellington attended the Congress of Vienna in early February and won his victory over Napoleon’s troops at Waterloo in June. The portrait was presumably painted late in the year to commemorate Wellington’s part in military and diplomatic events. | Subjects: | horse 19th century costume male portrait Order of the Bath 1st Duke of Wellington Order of St. Patrick duke man coat prime minister baton feather (fashion accessory) riband order of the Garter Arthur Wellesley horseback soldier Battle of Waterloo Royal Guelphic Order/Royal Hanoverian order tassel Napoleonic Wars badge field marshal sword chelengk | Temporal: | 1815 | Source: | Government Art Collection | Creator: | James Lonsdale | Identifier: | http://www.gac.culture.gov.uk/work.aspx?... | Go to resource |
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