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ONE FOR THE LOTTERY WINNERS - A "RORKE's DRIFT" PI
Galloglas
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Money to burn?

Head this way:

http://www.bonhams.com/eur/auction/18962/lot/3/#

G
Kiwi Sapper


Joined: 05 Mar 2009
Posts: 125
Location: Middle Earth & Home of Narnia; (Auckland, New Zealand)
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Interesting.................I never realised that any artillery was present at Rorke's Drift, or is that what is referred to as "Artistic License"?

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It was a confusion of ideas between him and one of the lions he was hunting in Kenya that had caused A. B. Spottsworth to make the obituary column. He thought the lion was dead, and the lion thought it wasn't.
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Mel


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
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Have I missed something? Why would anyone pay so much money for this unless, as G says, they have money to burn?

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Mel
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Edward


Joined: 27 Jan 2006
Posts: 32
Location: Glendora, California
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Perhaps that was simply a badly painted water cart and not an artillery piece at all.

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Kiwi Sapper


Joined: 05 Mar 2009
Posts: 125
Location: Middle Earth & Home of Narnia; (Auckland, New Zealand)
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Edward wrote:
Perhaps that was simply a badly painted water cart and not an artillery piece at all.


Aaaahhhhh, of course, I am such a "stupid boy". Embarassed

I see now that what I mistook for a barrel, is in fact a very large spout and if I am not mistaken, the wagoner is about to use it to pour a nice cup of char for one of his fellow members. Laughing

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It was a confusion of ideas between him and one of the lions he was hunting in Kenya that had caused A. B. Spottsworth to make the obituary column. He thought the lion was dead, and the lion thought it wasn't.
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Mel


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 345
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I was initially confused by the boxes, thinking that they were a new prototype ammo box known only to the artist but I see now, on closer inspection that they depict boxes containing the only SA consignment of chocolate Hob Nobs. (Issued as an alternative to the standard biscuit but immediately discontinued in the campaign due to the chocolate melting in the hot weather and heat of battle.)

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Mel
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Peter Ewart


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 1797
Location: Near Canterbury, Kent, England.
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Come on chaps, what do you think Gunner Howard was doing there if there wasn't an artillery piece to hand? In fact, that's him firing off the next round. Stands to reason ...

The biscuit boxes? Wrong again, Mel. No way would the Commissariat have allowed chocolate biccies south of the equator - they did know what they were doing, you know! Zoom in again - even further than you did last time - and you'll see "Custard Creams" clearly etched on the side of one box. On one of the others, if you peer really closely, I'm almost certain you can just pick out the faded letters of another inscription. Looks something like "J*mmy D*dg*rs. Am I right, do you think?

I do know that somewhere in Queen's Regs in those days every box had to contain a sheet itemising the contents, viz: "Dodgers, Jammy: 500 - for the use of. Not to be dunked by ORs." And I'm sure one of the accounts of the R/Drift survivors bears me out here, by asserting that nearly 25,000 Jammy Dodgers and Plain Digestives were expended between 4 pm and 7 am, leaving the garrison with no more than a few dozen broken ones remaining when a further enemy attack looked likely just after dawn. A miracle, indeed.

Thus the age-old British military dictum saw them through that terrible night. If it moves, salute it. If it doesn't, paint it. If you think it might go off, scoff it.
If all this is so, surely it has a substantial bearing on the potential value of the painting?

P.
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Martin Everett


Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 786
Location: Brecon
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The central figure - a (Colour) Sergeant - ambidextrous - with sword (?) and pistol - but sash over wrong shoulder - was he an officer in a previous existence? Too tall for Frank Bourne.

Rorke's Drift (does he really mean Rorke's Drift) is not in Zululand.
(Word censor does not allow spelling of 'Rorke's with a 'U' which was used in the catalogue details. - Alan)

I think Kendrick spent a day out at the NAM and got his ideas from the central figure in the Fripp painting.

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Martin Everett
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Sawubona


Joined: 09 Nov 2005
Posts: 1179
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I wouldn't want to be the man kneeling in front of that cannon (the fellow with the bayonet somehow jammed onto the wrong side of his bundoo) if said piece of ordnance should perchance fire! What caliber is that pistol anyway? "If you should die, can I have that pistol to give to me daughter?" And doesn't the gentleman on the right have his helmet on backwards? Nice flag though.

Looking at the image again, it seems as though there must have been a Martini/bayonet combination that allowed the lunger to mount on the left and/or underside of the rifle as well as on the right. Huh, didn't know that. Might have been made by the same factory that produced those undress tunics with a surfeit of buttons.
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diagralex


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 208
Location: Broomfield, Essex
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My wife tells me that this is not the usual subject for this artist.

If that is the case, then surely the first thing that you do is RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH before you start. What is the point of just guessing if you are not sure ?
There is enough information available to prevent any of these basic errors ever occuring.

Graham
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Alan
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Joined: 30 Aug 2005
Posts: 1530
Location: Wales
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Added to all the above, I think it's simply a poor painting.

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Kiwi Sapper


Joined: 05 Mar 2009
Posts: 125
Location: Middle Earth & Home of Narnia; (Auckland, New Zealand)
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Alan wrote:
Added to all the above, I think it's simply a poor painting.


BUT, in its defence, it has provided some small amusement ........ Very Happy

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It was a confusion of ideas between him and one of the lions he was hunting in Kenya that had caused A. B. Spottsworth to make the obituary column. He thought the lion was dead, and the lion thought it wasn't.
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Sawubona


Joined: 09 Nov 2005
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I don't think that I (for one) would go quite so far as to call it a "poor painting", Alan. The fact is that I think it's actually a fairly good painting. The composition and execution are more than passable if one goes for that sort of Victorian imagery, what with the focus on the sword brandishing hero defying all odds for Queen and Country. He's even got the requisite blood stained bandage and the flag waving defiantly behind him. The only thing lacking seems to be that his sword isn't broken! I prefer the more subdued colors we see in the real world to those we see in this painting, but I think Fripp or Woodville might have approved.
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John Young


Joined: 30 Aug 2005
Posts: 1020
Location: Lower Sheering, Essex
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Saw',

Me thinks Alan is giving his professional opinion on the matter, when he refers to it as being a poor painting.

Personally, I think the artist should have stuck to his usual subjects of chocolate box impressions of Victorian & Edwardian ladies - which Graham hinted at - the prints of which are on sale to this day.

In haste.

John Y.
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Sawubona


Joined: 09 Nov 2005
Posts: 1179
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Perhaps you're right, John, and I apologize to you, Martin, if I came across as a bit heavy handed with my "knee-jerk" reaction to the "poor" appraisal. Accuracy aside, I just don't think it's all that bad an example of a dying (or dead) genre.
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ONE FOR THE LOTTERY WINNERS - A "RORKE's DRIFT" PI
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