Nelson & Wellington Stevengraphs
Nelson & Wellington Stevengraphs
A pair of woven silk Stevengraph pictures titled The Death of Nelson and Wellington & Blucher. Meeting After The Battle of Waterloo.
Both pictures are after the paintings by the Irish artist Daniel Maclise (1806-70), commissioned for the Royal Gallery in the rebuilt Houses of Parliament. Maclise shows the sombre aftermath of the battle of Waterloo with the tired commanders surrounded by the wounded as they shake hands at A La Belle Alliance. The Death of Nelson shows the dying Admiral on the deck of HMS Victory at Trafalgar, supported by Hardy and surrounded by fellow officers, sailors and marines. The battle rages on as the wounded are tended. Both paintings depicting Britain's heroes were, and still are, very popular. They were reproduced in a variety of forms for an eager market.
Thomas Stevens, started his Coventry silk ribbon business in 1854 in Queen Street. He soon became the sole producer of sailor's hat ribbons for the Admiralty. Competition from cheap foreign imports led him to explore other ways of making business and the invention of the Stevengraph, pure silk woven pictures. A variety of subjects were depicted from sporting events and historical scenes to portraits. Stevens was awarded 21 various medals and diplomas for his pictures and had his imitators, the most notable being W.H. Grant also of Coventry. These 2 pictures are framed with glass to the back giving a view of their original, large labels. As Stevengraphs grew in popularity, the company expanded to London. The 17 Paternoster Square address to the labels was used between 1891 and 1902. This small pair of pictures are interesting for both their subject matter and their form of production. The type of mount used to both pictures narrows the date down further to between 1893 and 1899.
Size of each frame is given.
Dimensions:
1893 to 1899
Woven Silk
England
Stevengraph lables to back of both
Good
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