The Waterloo Heroes Assembled at Apsley House

Location

Country: France
City: Paris
Place: British Embassy

The catalogue of the Royal Academy exhibition of 1842 explained that the original oil painting of The Waterloo Heroes ‘represents the Duke of Wellington receiving his distinguished guests meeting to celebrate the anniversary of the glorious 18th of June…’. The Duke of Wellington and his guests are shown attending Wellington’s annual banquet for the heroes of the Battle of Waterloo on the anniversary of the victory over Napoleon in 1815. The Duke began this tradition in 1817 or 1818, and continued to hold annual banquets at Apsley House, his London home, until his death in 1852.

John Prescott Knight, portrait painter, was born in Stafford, son of the comedian Edward Knight. He initially worked as junior clerk for a West India merchant in London before studying drawing with Henry Sass and colouring with George Clint. In 1823, he entered the Royal Academy Schools. He painted several important figures of the Victorian age as well as large group portraits. Many of his works were engraved. In 1831, he married genre painter Clarissa Isabella Hague. He became a member of the Royal Academy in 1844 and later Professor of Perspective at the Academy Schools and Secretary of the Academy. In 1878, he was made a chevalier of the Légion d'honneur. Knight died in London aged 78 and was buried in Kensal Green cemetery.

Places

England, London, Belgium

Subjects

painting (as Subject), portrait, male portrait, text-based work, 19th century costume, military uniform, trousers, Duke, major general, general, colonel, field marshal, Napoleonic Wars, Battle of Waterloo, door, window, domestic interior, carpet, chair

Materials & Techniques

mezzotint

Artist

John Prescott Knight (1803 - 1881)
Charles George Lewis (1808 - 1880)

Title

The Waterloo Heroes Assembled at Apsley House

Date

published 1 October 1845

Medium

Mezzotint

Dimensions

height: 74.50 cm, width: 107.00 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Grosvenor Prints, May 2006

Provenance

Grosvenor Prints, London

GAC number

18074