Focus on this artwork and discuss the History.
Maclise received the commission for two wall paintings in the Royal Gallery in 1857; these were to depict The Meeting of Wellington and Blücher after the Battle of Waterloo and The Death of Nelson.  However Maclise found that creating the works in fresco would prove too difficult, and he resigned the commission.  He then discovered the waterglass technique (infusing the surface with sodium silicate) and resumed the commission.  Maclise started work on The Meeting of Wellington and Blücher in January 1860 and completed it during the winter of 1861.  He then submitted a sketch for The Death of Nelson to the Fine Arts Commission.  However Prince Albert, the prime promoter of the commission, died in 1861 and the Commission lost some of its momentum.  It was not until 1863 that Maclise received permission to continue with the scheme.  Between 1859 and 1864 Maclise created a plan for this picture; this was a painting that comprised a "finished study" for the work.  This painting was purchased by the Walker Art Gallery in 1892 from the Art Union of London; the money for this was obtained from the Liverpool Naval Exhibition.  The wall paintings did not survive well; by 1869 the colours were fading.  However modern critics continue to praise "their serious and sombre realism and their expressive power".
The Death of Nelson Prince Albert The Meeting of Wellington and Blücher after the Battle of Waterloo Liverpool Walker Art Gallery fresco sodium silicate Royal Gallery