Queen Victoria's First Visit to her Wounded Soldiers
by Jerry Barrett
oil on canvas,
[first exhibited] 1856
55 7/8 in. x 84 in. (1419 mm x 2133 mm)
Purchased with help from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and The Art Fund, 1993. NPG 6203
[Source: http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portraitLarge/mw08509/Queen-Victorias-First-Visit-to-her-Wounded-Soldiers (accessed 28.4.2013).]
On the 5th of March 1993 a picture of the scene at the hospital painted by Jerry Barrett (1824-1906) entitled "Queen Victoria's First Visit to her Wounded Soldiers", measuring 58 by 86 inches, was bought by the National Portrait Gallery for the sum of £199,500. Another picture by him, "The Mission of Mercy: Florence Nightingale receiving the Wounded at Scutari, 1857", was sold to the NPG at the same time for £188,500. Pictures of both appeared in "Country Life" on the 22nd of April 1993. (There is a copy in the 11th Hussar file. See also a keyed list of those present at the time, in the 11th Hussar "Scrapbook.")
The write-up in the Christie's auction catalogue of the time states that the whereabouts of both paintings were unknown until 1959 when they were purchased by a firm of art dealers from a castle in Wales, the property of Sir Geoffrey Bates, 5th Bt. MC.
The original painting of the scene at Brompton Barracks was bought by Thomas Agnew in 1856 for £430 (including the copyright) and sold to the 1st Baronet, Sir Edward Bates of Gyrn Castle, Llanasa, Holywell, Co. Flintshire in 1859 for £525, since when both had been passed down by descent. There are said to be smaller versions, as well as the sketches and studies in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle and at the NPG. The background of the artist remains obscure, his paintings being relatively rare.
There is some detailed information about Queen Victoria's visits to the Brompton Hospital at http://www.bromptonhistory.org.uk/memories/archive/queen-victoria-visits-brompton (accessed 21.5.2013). There is a copy here .
[PB: The figure wearing the blue coat and red hat sitting on his bed on the left of the picture, speaking to the young princes, is 648 Sergeant Edwin Leaney, 13th Light Dragoons.
1447 James Devlin, 4th Light Dragoons, was also present.]
[Source:The Project Gutenberg eBook of True Stories of Wonderful Deeds, by Unknown. [Uploaded 2007. No date of original publication.]
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