Lot 38: An album of 162 watercolours of military subjects, including 116 watercolours by Orlando Norie depicting English, French and Turkish troops in the Crimean War, scenes from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars including the Battle

Orlando Norie (1832-1901) and Henry Martin (fl. 1825, d. 1860 or 1865)
An album of 162 watercolours of military subjects, including 116 watercolours by Orlando Norie depicting English, French and Turkish troops in the Crimean War, scenes from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars including the Battle of Waterloo and the Peninsula War, English Cavalry 1856, French Cavalry 1856, Siege of Rome, 1849, skirmish between French and Arab troops, siege of Anvers, 1830 and 46 watercolours by Henry Martin of officers of the British army and British regiments on exercise at Chobham
the majority signed variously 'O. Norie', two signed 'Orlando Norie', one signed and dated 'ORLANDO NORIE/1855' (upper left) one with inscription and date 'Cavalerie Anglaise 1856', one with inscription and date 'Cavalerie Francaise 1856' (on the pages of the album); 19 signed with initials 'H.M.', the majority inscribed variously with titles (on the pages of the album)
pencil and watercolour, the watercolours by Martin heightened with touches of bodycolour
9½ x 13 5/8 in. (24.2 x 34.7 cm.); and smaller; the album 18 x 12 x 2 in. (45.8 x 30.5 x 5 cm.) overall

Major Thomas Bigoe Williams and by descent in the family to the present owner.

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 17.5% on the buyer's premium.
The watercolours in the present album are remarkable for their breadth of subject matter and well-preserved condition. Although one of the most important figures in the genre of military painting, little is known about Norie. He came from a family of Edinburgh painters and decorators and was the nephew of Frederick Norie. From 1869 he worked from a studio near the army depots at Aldershot and exhibited between 1876 and 1889. Norie was employed by Ackermann and Co. of Regent Street who managed his picture sales and employed him to make lithographs from his drawings of the battles of the Alma, Balaklava and Inkerman in the Crimean War (Ackermann's Military Battles November 1854-January 1855). It is not certain whether Norie went to the Crimean or not but certainly the watercolours in the present album which depict the battles and also daily life of the soldiers in the Crimean have a spontaneity and immediacy that is not always found in Norie's depictions of historical subjects. D. Millar The Victorian Watercolours and Drawings in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, London, 1995, p. 656 suggests that Norie may have based his work on the drawings of his Uncle. 66 watercolours by Norie are in the Royal Collection, see D. Millar, op.cit., pp. 656 - 664.

Henry Martin was a painter in oils and watercolour, specialising in the depiction of officers uniforms and battle pieces. He also worked for Ackermann's the publishers.