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Description: | Oil on canvas. John Prescott Knight painted this portrait at about the time Hill was created a Viscount in 1842, which was also the year of his death. Hill studied at a military academy in Strasbourg. He distinguished himself during the Napoleonic wars in Egypt under Sir Ralph Abercromby and under Arthur Wellesley, first Duke of Wellington in the Peninsular War and at the Battle of Waterloo. In 1828 Hill replaced Wellington (then Prime Minister) as commander-in-chief of the army. Hill resigned in August 1842, four months before his death.
This portrait is an oil sketch for Knight’s 1842 work ‘The Waterloo Heroes Assembled at Apsley House’ (private collection). ‘The Waterloo Heroes’ depicts a gathering of the survivors of the Battle of Waterloo, fought on 18 June 1815. Wellington held an annual banquet to reunite himself with the principal officers who fought under his command. The Duke began the tradition in 1817 or 1818 and continued to hold annual Waterloo banquets at Apsley House, his London home, until his death in 1852. The artist has added a horse in the background of this sketch as a decorative device to complete the composition, enabling the sketch to be considered a complete work in its own right. | Subjects: | feather (fashion accessory) 1st Viscount Hill military uniform Rowland Hill 19th century costume horse male portrait viscount epaulettes general man sword | Temporal: | c.1842; 1840/1842 | Source: | Government Art Collection | Creator: | John Prescott Knight | Identifier: | http://www.gac.culture.gov.uk/work.aspx?... | Go to resource |
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