Sunday at Chelsea Hospital, from "The Graphic," vol. 3
After Sir Hubert von Herkomer British, born Germany
Not on view
Herkomer contributed many scenes from contemporary life to the early issues of the weekly newspaper "The Graphic." Here he depicts a service in the chapel of the Royal Chelsea Hospital, a residential home for retired British soldiers in London. The artist later wrote of the subject that, "The idea was to make every man tell some different story, to be told by his face, or by the selection of attitude." This illustration focuses on two foreground figures, one of whom checks for the pulse of a companion who has quietly died during the service. The poignant subject was made into a large painting in 1875 (now Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight), that won Herkomer immediate fame. Exhibited first at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1875, it was then awarded a gold medal at the Exposition Universelle, Paris in 1878.
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