The Defence of Saragossa

Painting by David Wilkie

The Defence of Saragossa

Artist| David Wilkie
Year| 1828
Type| Oil on canvas, history painting
Dimensions| 94 cm × 141 cm (37 in × 56 in)
Location| Royal Collection, Windsor Castle

The Defence of Saragossa is an 1828 history painting by the British artist David Wilkie.[1] It depicts a scene during the 1808 Siege of Zaragoza at the time of the Peninsular War.[2]

Wilkie, a London-based Scottish painter, had recently travelled through Spain and this was one of a series of four works he produced featuring scenes of Spanish resistance to the French occupiers in the Peninsular War.

Wilkie was inspired by the story of Agustina de Aragón who stepped over the fallen body of her husband to fire a cannon at the French in defence of the city. The painting was bought by George IV following its exhibition at the Royal Academy's 1829 Summer Exhibition at Somerset House.[3] It remains in the Royal Collection.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Tromans, p. 293.
2. ^ Holland, p. 106.
3. ^ Tromans, pp. 290-92.

## Bibliography

[edit]

* Holland, Robert. The Warm South: How the Mediterranean Shaped the British Imagination. Yale University Press, 2018.
* Tromans, Nicholas. David Wilkie: The People's Painter. Edinburgh University Press, 2007.

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David Wilkie

Paintings|

* Pitlessie Fair (1804)
* The Village Recruit (1805)
* Blind-Man's Buff (1812)
* The Penny Wedding (1818)
* Newsmongers (1821)
* Chelsea Pensioners reading the Waterloo Dispatch (1822)
* The Parish Beadle (1823)
* The Highland Family (1824)
* The Defence of Saragossa (1828)
* Washington Irving in the Archives of Seville (1828)
* The Guerilla's Return (1830)
* Portrait of William IV (1832)
* Christopher Columbus Explaining His Intended Voyage (1834)
* Napoleon and Pius VII at Fontainebleau (1836)
* Josephine and the Fortune-Teller (1837)
* The First Council of Queen Victoria (1838)
* Sir David Baird Discovering the Body of Sultan Tipoo Sahib (1839)

Other|

* Regency era
* Royal Academy
* Principal Painter in Ordinary
* Peace – Burial at Sea (1842 painting)

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