Study of a wounded Guardsman, Crimea, 1854 (c)

Oil on board by Elizabeth Southerden Thompson (later Lady Butler) (1846-1933), 1874 (c).

The soldier with his head bandaged is a preliminary study for the key figure standing in the centre of Thompson's famous painting, 'The Roll Call', which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1874 and subsequently acquired by Queen Victoria. The muster of soldiers depicted in 'The Roll Call' was not linked by the artist to a particular action, rather it was intended to give a prime example of the gruelling conditions in which the Army lived during the Crimean War (1854-1856).