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Description:This very large original wood-block engraved antique print of the Funeral Car of The Duke of Wellington by Sir John Gilbert, was published as a supplement to The Illustrated London News on the 27th of November 1852.Sir John Gilbert RA 1817 – 1897 was an English artist, illustrator and engraver.Gilbert was born in Blackheath, Surrey, and taught himself to paint. His only formal instruction was from George Lance. Skilled in several media, Gilbert gained the nickname, the Scott of painting. He was best known for the illustrations and woodcuts he produced for the Illustrated London News.Gilbert was initially apprenticed to a firm of estate agents, but taught himself art by copying prints. He was unable to enter the Royal Academy Schools, but mastered watercolour, oils, and other media. From 1836 he exhibited at the Society of British Artists, and at the RA from 1838. The art patron Thomas Sheepshanks and the artist William Mulready suggested that he learn wood engraving. Starting with Punch, he moved on to the Illustrated London News. He produced an impressive number of wood-engravings for that publication and for The London Journal. He also produced very many illustrations for books, including nearly all the important English poets (including his illustrated Shakespeare with almost 750 drawings). He became president of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1871. He exhibited some 400 pictures in watercolour and oil exhibited at the various societies. In 1872 he was knighted. He became an RA in 1876, in the same year as Edward Poynter.The Gilbert-Garret Competition for Sketching Clubs was started in 1870 at St. Martins School of Art, and named after its first president, John Gilbert.Gilbert is buried at Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries.
General Definitions:Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stablePaper color : - off whiteAge of map color: -Colors used: -General color appearance: -Paper size: - 33in x 22in (840mm x 560mm)Plate size: - 33in x 22in (840mm x 560mm)Margins: - Min 1/4in (5mm)
Imperfections:Margins: - Re-joined along horizontal & vertical folds, no lossPlate area: - Re-joined along horizontal & vertical folds, no lossVerso: - Re-joined along horizontal & vertical folds, no loss
Background: Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS 1769 – 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as Prime Minister. His victory against Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 puts him in the first rank of Britain\'s military heroes.Wellesley was born in Dublin, into the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. He was commissioned as an ensign in the British Army in 1787, serving in Ireland as aide-de-camp to two successive Lords Lieutenant of Ireland. He was also elected as a Member of Parliament in the Irish House of Commons. He was a colonel by 1796, and saw action in the Netherlands and in India, where he fought in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War at the Battle of Seringapatam. He was appointed governor of Seringapatam and Mysore in 1799 and, as a newly appointed major-general (since 1802), won a decisive victory over the Maratha Confederacy at the Battle of Assaye in 1803.Wellesley rose to prominence as a general during the Peninsular campaign of the Napoleonic Wars, and was promoted to the rank of field marshal after leading the allied forces to victory against the French Empire at the Battle of Vitoria in 1813. Following Napoleon\'s exile in 1814, he served as the ambassador to France and was granted a dukedom. During the Hundred Days in 1815, he commanded the allied army which, together with a Prussian army under Blücher, defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. Wellington\'s battle record is exemplary; he ultimately participated in some 60 battles during the course of his military career.Wellington is famous for his adaptive defensive style of warfare, resulting in several victories against numerically superior forces while minimising his own losses. He is regarded as one of the greatest defensive commanders of all time, and many of his tactics and battle plans are still studied in military academies around the world.After the end of his active military career, Wellington returned to politics. He was twice British prime minister as part of the Tory party: from 1828 to 1830, and for a little less than a month in 1834. He oversaw the passage of the Catholic Relief Act 1829, but opposed the Reform Act 1832. He continued as one of the leading figures in the House of Lords until his retirement and remained Commander-in-Chief of the British Army until his death.Wellington died at Walmer Castle in Deal on 14 September 1852. This was his residence as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. Walmer Castle was said to have been his favourite residence. He was found to be unwell on that morning and was aided from his military campaign bed (the same one he used throughout his historic military career) and seated in his chair where he died. His death was recorded as being due to the after-effects of a stroke culminating in a series of seizures. He was aged 83.Although in life he hated travelling by rail (after witnessing the death of William Huskisson, one of the first railway accident casualties), his body was then taken by train to London, where he was given a state funeral – one of only a handful of British subjects to be honoured in that way (other examples are Lord Nelson and Sir Winston Churchill) – and the last heraldic state funeral to be held in Britain. The funeral took place on 18 November 1852. At his funeral there was hardly any space to stand because of the number of people attending, and the effusive praise given him in Tennyson\'s Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington attests to his stature at the time of his death. He was buried in a sarcophagus of luxulyanite in St Pauls Cathedral next to Lord Nelson. A bronze memorial was sculpted by Alfred Stevens, and features two intricate supports: Truth tearing the tongue out of the mouth of False-hood, and Valour trampling Cowardice underfoot. Stevens did not live to see it placed in its home under one of the great arches of the Cathedral.Wellington\'s casket was decorated with banners which were made for his funeral procession. Originally, there was one from Prussia, which was removed during World War I and never reinstated. In the procession, the Great Banner was carried by General Sir James Charles Chatterton of the 4th Dragoon Guards on the orders of Queen Victoria.Most of the book A Biographical Sketch of the Military and Political Career of the Late Duke of Wellington by Weymouth newspaper proprietor Joseph Drew is a detailed contemporary account of his death, lying in state and funeral.After his death, Irish and English newspapers disputed whether Wellington had been born an Irishman or an Englishman. In 2002, he was number 15 in the BBC\'s poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.Owing to its links with Wellington, as the former commanding officer and colonel of the regiment, the title 33rd (The Duke of Wellington\'s) Regiment was granted to the 33rd Regiment of Foot, on 18 June 1853 (the 38th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo) by Queen Victoria. Wellington\'s battle record is exemplary; he participated in some 60 battles during the course of his military career.