The military paintings of the Swiss artist David Morier are arguably the finest and certainly the best-known images of George II's army.

As a record of the uniforms worn at the mid-point of the 18th Century their value cannot be overstressed and it is important therefore that they should be accurately dated.

The paintings to be discussed in this article, by no means the sum of his work, comprise two series executed for the Duke of Cumberland; the first depicting individual cavalrymen belonging to each of the regiments carried on the 1748 establishment, prior to the Treaty of Aix-la-Chappelle; and the second depicting grenadiers of the three regiments of Footguards and the 1st through to the 49th Foot. The grenadiers are painted consecutively, three to a canvas with two musicians of the Footguards at the end to make up the requisite number. In addition a problem, posed by Morier's most famous work "An Incident in the Rebellion [of 1745] will also be considered.

The cavalry and grenadier paintings are commonly dated to 17519 it being held that they illustrate the uniforms prescribed in the Royal Warrant of that year. Close examination of both series however suggests an earlier date and the work may actually have begun over the winter of 1747/48. The Culloden painting on the other hand is popularly supposed to have been painted in 1746, using Jacobite prisoners as models. John Prebble indeed states, without giving a source, that Morier executed it in August of that year. He may however have painted two Culloden pictures and which of them survives will be discussed in due course.

Before beginning the discussion though it may be as well to scotch the oft repeated statement that Morier could not actually have painted a man from each regiment since the army was extremely widely dispersed both at home and in colonial garrisons. Dispersed it may have been but even regiments posted abroad maintained a presence (often substantial] at home in the form of recruiting parties and non-effectives constituting a rudimentary depot. Obtaining a soldier from each corps would not therefore have been unduly difficult and there are indeed a couple of instances where soldiers have been added to a group at a later date presumably because they were not available for some reason when the other figures were painted.

THE PAINTINGS

Each painting is described by a double number; the first referring to the reproduction in A.E. Haswell Miller and N.P. Dawney's "Military Drawings and Paintings in the Royal Collection" (2 Vols. Phaidon 1966] and the second to the Royal collection catalogue number.

The grenadier paintings can conveniently be divided into three groups of varying quality:

Group [a] comprises six paintings; 56/94, 57/95, 58/96, 59/97, 60/98 and 65/103, depicting the 1st to 15th and the 28th, 29th and 30th Foot. Although competently executed the style is rather stiff with a studio background and for the most part each set of figures is pictured in a uniform pose. It is possible that the original intention may have been to illustrate drill postures as well as uniforms, which might account for the stiffness. It would be logical for Morier to have begun with the 1st Foot and an early date for this group is suggested by the fact that only three grenadiers out of eighteen have wings on their shoulders, as against slightly less than half in groups [b] and [c] - wings became mandatory for all but one regiment in 1753.

It would also appear that this group was painted in winter since thirteen of the grenadiers have their lapels buttoned over, while only five wear their coats open. Of the twentysix others in groups [b] and [c] - discounting the two musicians of the Footguards, a highlander and an Invalid, lacking lapels - only two have their lapels buttoned over.

Group [b] comprises five paintings; 55/93, 61/99, 62/100, 63/101, and 66/104, depicting the three regiments of Footguards, the 16th to 24th Foot and the 31st, 32nd and 33rd Foot. In marked contrast to group [a] these figures are full of vitality and depicted against a backdrop of camp scenes. These backgrounds, if not the soldiers themselves, were clearly painted out of doors "from the life" and appear to be contemporary with a large group portrait of officers and men of the Royal Artillery which can be positively identified as having been painted at Roermond in April 1748. The last canvas in the group (66/104) also features a rather sullen looking woman wearing Dutch clogs - and a battalion company soldier disappearing over a fence with a chicken under his arm!

It is undoubtedly significant that all but three of the regiments depicted in this group were serving in Flanders in 1748. The odd three out, 16th, 17th and l8th Foot, are all on one canvas (61/99] and at first sight it appears to present something of a problem. Featured very prominently in the centre of the painting is an Austrian soldier puffing on his pipe as he watches the artist at work. Upon closer examination however it soon becomes apparent that the three grenadiers do not fit very comfortably on the canvas.

Those belonging to the 16th and 17th are crammed together with a drummer to one side while the grenadier of the 18th with nearly half of the painting to himself is not quite perpendicular to the background and has obviously been imposed upon it at some later date. It would seem fair to conclude therefore that the first four paintings in this group were painted in Flanders in the Spring of 1748 and the fifth, although begun at that time completed after the artist's return to England.

Group [c] for its part comprises seven paintings; 64/102, 67/105, 68/106, 69/109, 70/107 ' 71/108 and 72/110 depicting the 25th, 26th, 27th and 34th through to 49th Foot. Only six of the nineteen regiments served in Flanders. A fairly plain studio backdrop is again employed but the figures themselves are rather livelier than in group [a] probably because most have been painted individually rather than three at a time.

The style is very similar in fact to a complementary series of Austrian, Dutch and German infantrymen which must have been painted in 1748. The numbering of certain regiments however indicates that this group was painted after the reductions which followed the end of the war. The Black Watch grenadier for example is identified as a soldier of the 42nd although they had come home from Flanders as the 43rd in 1748. None of the disbanded regiments are included.

This is not the case however with the cavalry series. It is clear that at least two of the canvases must have been painted no later than the Spring of 1748. In two instances - the 7th and 15th Dragoons - the troopers concerned wear the Allied field sign of a sprtg of green leaves in their hats which the first is unlikely to have done after 1748 and the second certainly will not have done since it was disbanded in that year. It has been suggested that if the series was executed in 1751 the 15th may have been included as having been Cumberland's own regiment but such a suggestion is more ingenious than credible. Not only is the figure labelled as part of the series but the horse furniture is of the same "modern" pattern as the other regiments.

On the basis of the observations discussed above therefore it would appear that the chronology may have been as follows: Morier began work on the grenadiers over the winter of 1747/48 as evidenced by the early style of their coats and the fact that most of them have the lapels of their coats buttoned over for warmth. In the Spring of 1748 he went out to Flanders where he painted at least two of the cavalry regiments, the Royal Artillery an masse and four of the five canvases in group (b]. One had the background prepared but was left unfinished presumably because his patron, the Duke of Cumberland, wished him to record the uniforms of the Allied contingents before the army dispersed on the outbreak of peace. The remaining figures will then have been painted back in England in 1748/49.

In short the paintings were probably intended to illustrate the draft regulations of 1747 though they show differences in point of detail which were afterwards incorporated in the 1751 Warrant. As such they depict the British Army as it appeared at the end of the War of the Austrian Succession, not as it appeared in the Seven Years War.

THE CULLODEN PAINTINGS

The changes which occurred after 1748/51 are too numerous and complex to discuss here but the grenadier paintings can usefully be referred to in discussini Morier's best known work; the famous "Incident of the Rebellion', depicting the attack by highlanders on the left hand grenadier platoon of Barrell's 4th Foot at Culloden in 1746.

John Prebble states that this was painted in August 1746, employing real Jacobite prisoners as models. Morier however produced two paintings of Culloden. After Cumberland's death in 1765 an inventory refers to "The Battle of Culloden" by the chimney piece in one of the rooms at Cranbourn Lodge, Windsor and to "A skirmish between some Highlanders and English Infantry" over one of the doors. It is this latter picture which is now known as the "Incident of the Rebellion" and examination suggests that it may have been painted in the 1750s.

In the first place, Morier's treatment of the wide variety of tartans worn by the rebels, while perhaps lacking in detail, is certainly competent and has clearly been painted with some confidence. The grenadier of the 42nd however (70/107] painted in late 1748 or in 1749 is a much less happy treatment. No attempt is made to reproduce the sett of the tartan beyond an indeterminate streak representing the red overstripe introduced in 1745 (for both grenadier and battalion companies]. His stockings are also odd, depicted by Morier as a harlequin check though one of the "rebels" in the "Incident" is wearing exactly the pattern of diced hose one ought to have seen on the grenadier of the 42nd. This might therefore suggest that by the time Morier painted the "Incident" he had mastered the painting of tartan to a far higher standard than he was capable of in 1748/9.

It might also be observed that the rebels are all of them fully clothed, although there is ample testimony to prisoners having been stripped; young and healthy, in contrast to jail descriptions revealing a high proportion of older men; and clean shaven.

Turning to the grenadiers of the 4th it very quickly becomes apparent that something is wrong with dating this painting to 1746. They can in the first place be positively identified as soldiers of the 4th by their blue facings, by the garter badge on the front of their mitre caps, and the vandyked blue line worked into their regimental lace. It is the arrangement of this lace which causes the problem.

In both the 1742 Clothing Book and Morier's grenadier painting of 1747/48 (57/95] the regimental lace on the sleeves and skirts of their coats is arranged in a Ladder pattern, but in the "Incident" it is very clearly sewn on in a Herringbone pattern. Since the obvious intention was to depict men of the 4th it can safely be assumed that at the time the picture was painted they were indeed wearing something different to that depicted in 1742 and 1747/8.

It is possible of course that they might have switched to the Herringbone pattern after 1742 and then reverted to the Ladder pattern by 1747 but this seems unlikely, particularly since the Herringbone style seems to have been steadily becoming more popular during this period. A possible date for the change may have been after Sir Robert Rich succeeded Barrell as Colonel of the regiment in August 1749.

A date in the early 1750s would also fit very neatly with the 4th's movements. In August 1746 they were still in Scotland and the grenadier company will emphatically not have been available to serve as models. From 1751 to 1759 however detachments were scattered across southern England and the likeliest date is sometime in 1752 or 1753 when they were quartered in Kent.

It might finally be observed that only one of the two grenadier platoons is depicted in the painting; the other, the right hand platoon is more than likely that motley group shown rushing upon them with upraised swords and axes and dressed up in highland clothes - or as more modern soldiers would put it; "Vandal Order".

(For those of you who might have missed it, Stuart has recently had published a two part article, with colour illustrations, on the Scots army at Culloden in MILITARY ILLUSTRATED, JUNE & JULY 1991 issues.)