A kind poster to the NEREV list alerted me to this online exhibit from the Brown University Library: drawings of soldiers at Warley Camp in Britain about 1778. They were made by Philip James de Loutherbourg, an artist who had moved from Strasbourg to London. They preserve an unusual level of detail about army and even militia uniforms, though sadly not in color. Click on the thumbnail to go to the collection and here for an article on what Warley Camp was all about.And in other news, the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., opened an exhibit on Thomas Paine, with its attendant website. Don’t miss the British print of Paine hung in effigy in 1793, looking a lot like how New Englanders had made effigies of their political enemies.
Jon,
ReplyDeletethanks so much for bringing attention to this great resource. The offerings of the collection have formed a basis for much of my work as a reenactor, maker of goods for other reenactors, and as a park ranger.
De Loutherbourg's work answered and simultaneously posed many questions about details and construction of British army uniforming and equipment in the 1770s. Even though the work is not in color, his notes on coloration for later usage in his Warley Camp paintings serve as a guide for us today in extrapolating (a fine word for "educated guessing") the uniforming of other units similarly clothed and supplied in the Army at that time. The devil, as well as the enjoyment, is truly in ferreting out the details!
Best Wishes,
Roger Fuller