THE WATERLOO BANQUET

AT APSLEY HOUSE.

BY WILLIAM SALTER, ESQ.

MR. MOON has the honour to announce the completion of this most interesting picture by Mr. SALTER. The occasions have been many in which Mr. Moon has had the distinguished honour of publishing works of high character, works of great attraction, either as the production of some eminent artist, or as a work of transcendant excellence and great popular interest. But in no instance has he been enabled to offer to public attention a work of such unusual and engrossing interest as "THE WATERLOO BANQUET," a picture painted expressly to record, by a faithful representation of the persons and the scene, those who met to commemorate the greatest event in the military history of the world.

It has been the annual custom of HIS GRACE the DUKE OF WELLINGTON to rally around him, on the 18th of June, the distinguished officers who were his brothers in arms, to celebrate the glorious victory in 1815, when they aided to crush a revolutionary and military tyranny that had long subdued all Europe, except our own happy land, which, under Providence, was saved by these heroes, who defeated an army and a general, the bravest and the best, except those who conquered them.

It is impossible to imagine a subject of greater and more general interest than this picture, which represents the actual portraiture of more than seventy of those warriors, who, having won fame and rank under their gallant host, thus assemble on the anniversary of the crowning act of all their heroism—to recall the events of that stirring time—to offer a tribute to the memory of those who fell—to rejoice with those who are spared—to offer their congratulations to their veteran leader—and to receive his hospitality beneath his roof, protected during twenty-five years of a peace which was won and has been guarded by their valour.

The painter of this scene has had the distinguished honour to receive from HIS GRACE the especial permission to paint it; and every facility which this privilege could command has been afforded to Mr. SALTER. A consideration of the last importance in such an undertaking; for the chief value of the work arises from the interest that every Englishman feels in this commemorative Banquet. It is not a fanciful representation, not an imaginary mingling of likenesses in a scene which might possibly have occurred; but these are portraits for which every individual in the picture actually sat to the painter for the situation which he occupies, according to the sketch made and studied at the Banquet, which Mr. SALTER was permitted, for several successive years, to witness and study during the festival, where he was allowed to remain, for the express object of this work. Thus the representation of the scene is actual, and of the personages real! The only liberty taken by the painter was the choice of the moment, and in this he has been most happy; for, choosing that which followed the removal of the dinner, he has availed himself of a warranted licence so to place his figures around the table, that the faces of all can be seen, which could not have been the case at an earlier moment. The period represented is when the company, after dinner, has been broken into groups, and just as the DUKE has risen to address them.

Thus this remarkable commemoration of the greatest military event in the annals of our country is adopted as the subject of a picture, which, by means of the engraving, will be made known throughout the world; what the interest and enjoyment of this subject is, to those who were cotemporary with the battle of Waterloo, is proved by the recollections of every man who remembers that great event and its immediate effects. Our enthusiasm as Englishmen, and gratitude to the heroes of that day, have already been caught by our children, born since that period; and when all those who are represented on Mr. SALTER's canvas shall have passed away, and their memories, instead of their brows, are wreathed with laurel, another and another generation will look upon the print which will contain the portraits of those great men who saved the country which their descendants will enjoy. It will be looked upon with inexpressible interest, and the commemorative engraving will be appealed to as the most faithful record of an event which has an undying fame.

PRICES TO SUBSCRIBERS.

PROOFS BEFORE LETTERS, £15. 15s.—PROOFS, £12. 12s.—PRINTS, £10. 10s.

day of

184

Sir,

You will please insert my name as a Subscriber for the forthcoming
Engraving of "THE WATERLOO BANQUET," after Salter's Picture, and for the class
of impression against which my Initials are placed; to be paid for on delivery.

TO SUBSCRIBERS.

Proofs before Letters . . £15 15 0
Proofs . . . . . . . 12 12 0
Prints . . . . . . . 10 10 0

MR. MOON begs to caution the Public against any spurious publication, purporting to represent the Waterloo Heroes at Apsley House celebrating the Anniversary of the great Battle. MR. SALTER alone has been authorized by His Grace the Duke of Wellington to paint the "Waterloo Banquet at Apsley House;" and for this purpose he has been afforded every facility by His Grace, by the Commander in Chief, and by upwards of seventy Officers, who have expressly sat to Mr. SALTER for their portraits.

LONDON : F. G. MOON, No. 20, THREADNEEDLE STREET,
BY SPECIAL APPOINTMENT, PUBLISHER IN ORDINARY TO HER MAJESTY.