Conservation process of 'The Waterloo Cartoon' by Daniel Maclise RA

This drawing is Maclise's 'cartoon' (a full-scale preparatory drawing) for his fresco in the Royal Gallery, Palace of Westminster, depicting the meeting of the Duke of Wellington and General Blücher at the end of the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815. They are shown shaking hands outside the ruins of Napoleon's headquarters at the inn, La Belle Alliance. As the famous battle was still in living memory, Maclise went to great lengths to provide a plausible depiction of the personnel who were present on the day and was assisted in his research by Sir Charles Eastlake who wrote to General Nostitz, Blücher's former aide-de-camp, for information. The War Office, and even Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, also became involved in the effort to verify accounts of the meeting between the two generals and to provide details of the correct uniforms and equipment of their troops.

Although celebrating a British victory, Maclise's grand composition presents a grim scene of the aftermath of the battle with dead and wounded figures dominating the foreground. Maclise made a particular effort to represent troops from the different regiments involved, including Prussians, French, Flemish, English, Scots and Irish soldiers. Although some of these troops were unlikely to have been found around the area of La Belle Alliance, Maclise's intention was (presumably) to give a sense of the range of personnel involved in the battle of Waterloo. He spent a considerable amount of time researching the different regimental uniforms and based some of the drawing on items actually worn on the battlefield of Waterloo. Maclise originally depicted Blücher wearing a cocked hat with feathers but, after being informed by Nostitz that the General had in fact worn a 'forage cap', this part of the cartoon was changed, as can be seen here. Maclise wrote that “having wafered a piece of paper over Blucher's cocked hat and feathers, I contrived to draw the forage cap”.

According to Maclise's early biographer, W. Justin O'Driscoll, the artist began work on the cartoon in March 1858. Due to the colossal size of the picture (45 feet wide), he had to divide the cartoon into ten panels so that he could work on each one separately in his drawing room at Russell Place. However, O'Driscoll states that they were then “skilfully joined together” so as to present “an unbroken surface”. The artist had no assistance and completed the drawing in just over a year. Very shortly after finishing the cartoon, he began work on the fresco in the Royal Gallery. However, he quickly found that the minutely detailed cartoon was extremely difficult to translate into slow-drying fresco and decided to resign the commission.

Prince Albert suggested that instead of giving up, Maclise should visit Germany to study the new 'stereochrome' or 'waterglass' technique that had been developed there which emulated the appearance of fresco painting while allowing the artist to change and retouch the work. Maclise agreed and after visiting Berlin, Munich and Dresden he decided to use the stereochrome process. This technique, though more suited to the task and to the English climate, proved not to be as effective as originally hoped. Both of Maclise's frescoes in the Royal Gallery faded rapidly and were thought to have been ruined within a matter of decades. However, the findings of a recent conservation project at the Royal Gallery suggest that the frescoes are in better condition than previously thought.

Maclise described himself as a 'Cockneyfied Corkonian', brought up in Cork, Ireland, but having lived in London since 1827. Although he had trained both in Cork and at the Royal Academy Schools, his technical mastery was interpreted by his contemporaries as a matter of English national pride. The Art Journal enthused that “this is the greatest work of its class that has been produced in England: nor is there any painter of the Continent who has surpassed it - not even Kaulbach: assuredly no other”. At this time Maclise also received a gold porte-crayon and a letter of congratulation signed by 43 of his fellow artists.