The Victorians were always engaged in conflict, whether extending or defending their growing empire, and Orlando Norie developed a passion for painting the soldiers in action — although the backgrounds of these paintings sometimes suggest that he might otherwise have been a fine landscape painter. He was born in Bruges on 15 January 1832, and later settled in Dunkirk. But his connections with Britain and British culture were very strong. Both his parents were Scottish, and his father came from a prominent artistic family in Scotland; he himself spent much of his time on this side of the Channel, and had a studio at Aldershot in Hampshire from 1870 onwards (see Hichberger 100); and his enormous body of work was mostly for the British firm established by Rudolf Ackermann. Ackermann himself is described in the National Portrait Gallery's note as having been "a major patron of British artists, designers and water colourists."

Norie first became popular with prints of his watercolours of the Crimean War, and in 1873 about forty of his works, recording the autumn military manoeuvres of 1871 at the training grounds in Aldershot, Hampshire, were exhibited at Ackermann's showroom on Regent Street. The show was very well received. The Times reviewer, for example, wrote, "Norie is skilled in figure drawing; his horses are also good, and as he has a quick eye for the points of a picture and knows how to make the most of the colour and picturesqueness always ready to his hand in the different uniforms, he has achieved a series of very attractive and interesting drawings, most of which already bear a red star in the corner." As for uniforms, these are depicted in precise detail (e.g., see the Highlander uniforms in Harrington and Tomasek, plates 86-87). Not surprisingly, given her pride in the British army, the Queen was greatly impressed by his work. She acquired thirty-eight of his paintings for the Royal Collection (Hichberger 100), and commissioned him to decorate a beautiful leather-bound album of important military personages, including Prince Albert and the future Edward VII, with appropriate military scenes. Norie, reputed to have produced well over five thousand military paintings, not counting many other paintings and illustrations (see Benezit 162), died at home in Dunkirk on 16 May 1901. — Jacqueline Banerjee

Carrying a wounded officer, Indian Mutiny

The Indian Mutiny

The Crimean War

Carrying a wounded officer, Indian Mutiny