3-021-102 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Daniel Maclise, R.A., 1868. Engraving from a photograph by John Watkins. 'While a child Maclise showed a great aptitude for drawing...For several years he studied anatomy under Dr. Woodroffe, proceeding from drawings to dissection, and thus laid the foundation for that extraordinary power of drawing the human figure under every possible condition of foreshortening and without the aid of models...In 1828 he came to London and entered the Royal Academy, where his progress was unusually rapid and successful...Mr. Maclise was selected by the Fine-Art Commissioners, in 1844, from among the exhibitors in the Westminster Hall competition of that year, to prepare a design for one of the subjects proposed for the decoration of the House of Lords; and the "Spirit of Chivalry," painted on the wall in 1847, was the result of the competition...Seven years, without intermission or holiday, early and late, were spent in executing, in the two great central compartments of [the Royal gallery, the most spacious apartment of the Westminster Palace,] (each measuring 46 ft. by 12 ft.) the vast and complicated paintings, "The Meeting of Wellington and Blucher after Waterloo," and "The Death of Nelson".' From "Illustrated London News", 1868.