Samuel Hieronymus Grimm (1733-94)
2nd West Yorkshire Light Infantry Militia: inspection at Old Montagu House, London, 1780 dated Jun 1780
Pen and ink and watercolour | 50.1 x 67.2 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 916602
Samuel Hieronymus Grimm (1733-94)
2nd West Yorkshire Light Infantry Militia: inspection at Old Montagu House, London, 1780 dated Jun 1780
Samuel Hieronymus Grimm (1733-94)
2nd West Yorkshire Light Infantry Militia: inspection at Old Montagu House, London, 1780 dated Jun 1780
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A pen and ink and watercolour drawing of the camp at Montagu House during the Gordon Riots of 1780. The prelate on the steps is Dr John Moore, Bishop of Bangor, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury; the Grenadier Company is marching past. At each corner of the stairhead, stand the Colours of the Regiment. Signed and dated: S. H. Grimm 1780.
Grimm's drawing records the encampment at Montagu House (now the site of the British Museum) set up in during the Gordon Riots in 1780. Over six days in June 1780, protests took place against the limited concessions of the first Catholic Relief Act, and to quell further riots, troops were stationed in St James's Park, the gardens of Montagu House, and Hyde Park, remaining in situ for several months. Despite their military function, the encampments soon became places of fashionable parade and entertainment: Lord Harcourt described that in St James's Park as 'so extremely pretty that you would be charmed with the sight of it'. Other drawings of the camps in the Royal Collection are by Paul Sandby. Grimm exhibited a work of this subject at the Royal Academy in 1781.Provenance
Purchased by Sir Richard Holmes at Christie's with RCIN 916601, £5
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Medium and techniques
Pen and ink and watercolour
Measurements
50.1 x 67.2 cm (sheet of paper)