Module # 2 -- Object

A 1787 oil painting by John Singleton Copley depicting Colonel Ernst August von Hugo and Lt. Colonel von Schlepegrell, two Hanoverian officers who participated in the Siege of Gibraltar. Copley made the painting as a preperatory piece for his much larger painting, "The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 1782."

The finished painting "The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 1782", which Copley finished in 1791. The Colonel and Lt. Colonel can be seen on the right-hand side of the painting.

A detail from the right hand side of the finished "Siege" painting showing Colonel von Hugo and Lt. Colonel von Schlepegrell.

http://dighist.fas.harvard.edu/courses/2017/hist1002/files/original/5e68dabfc50c8f5719ea0041f4610f34.pdf

A page from the "Monthly Chronicle" section of the Westminster Magazine issue from October 1784, describing local and empire-wide news. Of note is the section at the top of the leftmost column; it gives the news that the  Hanoverian troops had been recalled from their post at Gibraltar, and describes the new peacetime order of the garrison in Gibraltar.

http://dighist.fas.harvard.edu/courses/2017/hist1002/files/original/0880d12274b52a23008e587bf913b7ff.pdf

An article from the January 1779 edition of the Scots Magazine detailing the deployments of different British regiments across the Empire. Of particular note is the section at the very bottom of the right hand column on the first page, which details the regiments stationed on Gibraltar.

As the 1764 map of Gibraltar and the accounts of the Siege demonstrate, life in British Gibraltar (and the interest shown to it by the rest of the British Empire and other European observers) was connected to the military. This military aspect can be further explored using two paintings by John Singleton Copley—“The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 1782” and “Colonel Ernst August von Hugo and Lt. Colonel von Schlepegrell”—and two magazine articles from the Scots Magazine and the Westminster Magazine. These texts and objects present key players in the Siege of Gibraltar who nevertheless seem resigned to the background—the German Hanoverian regiments stationed on Gibraltar during the siege. Throughout these objects, the Hanoverian officers and their regiments at large are given their due representation in the narrative, but are never made the star of the story.

In 1783, the city of London commissioned from American-born painter John Singleton Copley a painting to commemorate the recently won Siege of Gibraltar. Copley would eventually finish this painting, entitled “The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 1782”, in 1791.[1] In preparation for the final painting, Copley painted many preparatory paintings and preliminary sketches, including several paintings depicting German (Hanoverian) officers who had participated in the siege. The painting of Colonel Ernst August von Hugo and Lt. Colonel von Schlepegrell came out of this effort, as the two officers were part of the Hanoverian regiments stationed on Gibraltar that participated in the siege.[2] The Hanoverian were regiments of German soldiers who served with the British regiments in Gibraltar and worked under the oversight of General and Gibraltar Governor George Augustus Elliot. Copley painted four of these officers from life, and incorporated their poses largely unchanged into his final painting. The Scots Magazine article entitled “Stations of our Land-Forces, January 1779” confirmed the presence of these Hanoverian troops in Gibraltar prior to the siege, and the “Monthly Chronicle” section of the Westminster magazine confirms that the Hanoverian regiments remained in Gibraltar through past the end of the siege.

The presence of the Hanoverian soldiers is complex—although these small references to the officers and their soldiers do exist, these references are always in the context of a larger array of information. In the main painting of the colonel and lieutenant colonel, the officers and their contributions make up a sliver of a larger whole. Although the German officers in the main preparatory painting are life size, once placed into their context in the large, full size painting, they shrink to be captivating figures in the background of a larger tableau. Their heads form part of a consistent-looking gaggle of red-coated, white-wigged men standing behind the commander on his horse. The commander, bolding pointing before a billowing white cloud, is the focal point; the officers behind him are the interesting background. The heads of the Colonel and Lt. Colonel, so striking and lively in their own portrait, become lost in the equally lively and active background.

 Even in the preparatory painting one can see a glimpse of the officers’ status as players in a larger narrative—Copley has placed other people around, above, and behind the figures in bold, clear strokes. Even though these other figures are not fleshed out, it is clearly an exercise in composition formulation—these are the figures that will surround the German officers once they are in the final painting. So even when putting the figures relatively in the spotlight, Copley still places them into their context.

This trend of representing the Hanoverian soldiers as small figures in the background of larger events is also seen in the contemporary magazine articles. In the Scots magazine article, the line reads, “In Gibraltar: The 51^st and 61^st regiments, and two regiments of Hanoverians.”[3] It is one sentence out of many. In the context of the article, the Hanoverians are just another element of a large British army spread over a large expanse of empire. As in the paintings, the Hanoverians are not unique; they do not stand out. The only factor that would perhaps have made them stand out would be their name, but even the name is not presented with any fanfare or unique ceremony. The Hanoverians get no more mention than any other British regiment on the page. Also important is the physical placement of the news of the Hanoverian regiments. The sentence comes at the very bottom of the right hand column on the first page—hidden relatively out of sight if one looks only at that one page, but almost hidden in plain sight if one reads both pages.

 In the Westminster Magazine, the Hanoverian regiments get similarly un-noteworthy coverage. Although they are in the first piece of news given in the “Monthly Chronicle”, the main focus on those three sentences is not on the Hanoverian troops but the status of Gibraltar’s defenses after the American Revolution and Siege.[4] Once again, the Hanoverian troops feature as just one news article among many. The briefness of the mention is further enhanced when one considers that the full “Monthly Chronicle” section is many pages long.  

These brief depictions of the Hanoverian regiments need to be contextualized. It is not fair to say that this trend comes about from the lack of respect of the British public, magazine writers, and painters. Nor does it necessarily point to a negative view of Gibraltar. On the contrary, it seems that the presentation is neutral—the Hanoverian regiment constitutes just another British regiment and just another piece of news. When the achievements of the British army are to be celebrated, as in the full painting of the siege, the Hanoverian officers melt into the background of similar looking British officers. The message is clear: they were essential parts of the overall victory, but they do not carry the day on their own. When the Hanoverians are represented in newspapers, they are not outstanding but also not objectionable.

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