à la National Portrait Gallery à Londres, vous pouvez voir les portraits de Napoléon à Sainte-Hélène et Wellington à Waterloo accrochés l'un à côté de l'autre avec la légende transcrite ci-dessous
Global Conflict
The period
at the end of the 18th century has been described as the first ‘true’
world war.
This began
with the Seven Years War (1757-1763) and ended with the Napoleonic Wars
(1803-1815). These conflicts were principally between Britain and its allies,
and the Catholic powers of France and Spain, and encompassed people and
territories occupied by these European countries. The fighting took place on
land and at sea, in Europe, the Americas and Asia, with each colonial power
trying to increase their control of the world and its natural resources.
The peace
process following each war led to the reallocation of colonies to Europe’s
super-powers. By 1820, over 25% of the world’s population was under British
colonial control.
The Duke of
Wellington Surveying the Field of Waterloo – Napoléon on St Helena by Benjamin Robert
Haydon.
In this
imaginary pairing, Haydon contrasted Bonaparte, as a British prisoner, with his
archenemy the Duke of Wellington. Napoleon is shown as a captive on the remote Atlantic
Island of St Helena while an elderly Duke of Wellington looks out across the battlefield
of Waterloo, the site of the victory over Napoleon in 1815.
Oil on
canvas, 1839 and about 1846, based on a portrait of 1830
