Property of the Hon. Nicholas Napier Williams, Edwin (1782-...

Hammer

£7,000

Property of the Hon. Nicholas Napier

Williams, Edwin (1782-1855)
Portrait of Lieutenant General Sir Charles James Napier with his favourite Arab charger Red Rover
1853
Signed and dated lower left 'Edwin Williams 1853'
Oil on canvas

The eldest of four famous brothers in whom the Duke of Wellington took a great interest, Charles Napier had an exemplary military career. He is best known as the Conqueror of Sind in 1843, for which he was made a GCB. He is also remembered as a gifted administrator for his work as Resident for Cephaloniá. The marble statue of him in St Paul's Cathedral bears the inscription, 'A prescient general, a beneficent governor, a just man'. The fact that the majority of the subscribers to the statue of him in the south-west corner of Trafalgar Square were private soldiers is also testimony of his popularity in the Army.

Towards the end he desired that his charger, Red Rover, should be brought to his bedside, that he might caress him once more: but the horse was frightened and would not approach; so, with a sigh of disappointment, Napier turned round and begged his wife to take care of its comfort.

Dimensions:
36 in. (H) x 25 in. (W)