Crowdfunding secures first Waterloo paintings
THE earliest known images of the aftermath of Waterloo have been secured for the nation after the British Museum used crowdfunding to buy them, Neil MacGregor, its director, is to announce.
The acquisition will be declared tomorrow in Mr MacGregor’s final lecture to members of the museum before he leaves the role after 13 years.
The paintings went on display at the museum earlier this year; the first time they had been seen by the public. It will now be able to keep them after its appeal raised £100,000 from members of the public.
It is the first time the British Museum has funded an acquisition in this way, using the website Just Giving as well as more traditional donors from Friends of the British Museum and the American Friends of the British Museum.
The pictures were painted by a Thomas Stoney on June 20, 1815, two days after the Battle of Waterloo.
They include three panoramas of the battlefields of Waterloo and of Quatre Bras, and smaller watercolours focusing on the village of Waterloo and famous sites of the battle and include the bodies of dead soldiers.
They are believed to be the first images of the battlefield. Their anonymous owner offered the collection to the museum at a reduced price in appreciation of Mr MacGregor’s tenure.
Mr MacGregor is to leave the British Museum next month. He will be replaced by Dr Hartwig Fischer.