The National Lancers with the Reviewing Officers on Boston Common

500 Battle Road Press (45.7 x 61)
The National Lancers with the Reviewing Officers on Boston Common
Fitz Hugh Lane
Production Date 1975

This was a quick and easy build. I really love Battle Road Press puzzles due to their vast range of fine art images, and the large, interesting piece shapes. This is the oldest BRP in my collection.

From the box:

The National Lancers with the Reviewing Officers on Boston Common
Fitz Hugh Lane (1804-1865)
Lithograph, hand colored. After Charles Hubbard. Published by Thomas Moore, Boston, 1837.

The colorfully uniformed National Lancers were a volunteer military company founded in 1836. Their activities were both practical and ceremonial. For example, they helped restore order and protect property after the great fire of 1872; they also escorted the governor to Harvard commencement annually.

This lithograph reproduces a painting made by Charles Hubbard, a Boston sign and ornamental painter, on a standard or banner such as that carried by a Lancer in the middle of the group. The standard was presented to the company by Governor Edward Everett on August 30th, 1837, in recognition of its assistance in quelling the Broad Street Riot of the previous June.

Lane's skill as a lithographic draftsmen is seen in the crisply delineated buildings of Beacon Street, the sleek, prancing horses, the activities of the onlookers. This Impression is skillfully hand colored with delicate washes of color over the landscape and architecture, and bright accents on horses, riders, and on the pennants decorating the upraised lances.

From the M. and M. Korolik Collection
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston