DRAWN BY DAWSON-WATSON [ROBERTS (Frederick, Earl, 1832-1914, V.C., 1858, K.G., 'Roberts of Kandahar', Field Marshal)]

Original Pen and Wash Portrait, signed in pen by the artist 'Dawson-Watson' (Dawson Dawson-Watson, 1864-1939), titled below on the mount, a striking and expressive drawing in brown and related colours heightened in white, showing him head and shoulders, three quarter face, with a thoughtful gaze, in Field Marshal's uniform, and wearing his medals and decorations including the V.C. and Garter Star, 3¼" x 2¼" in contemporary cardboard window mount 8¾" x 7", no place, no date, circa surface portion of mount detached from blank top left corner

Roberts was awarded the V.C. in January 1858 at Khudaganj for saving the life of a sepoy and capturing a rebel standard. In December 1899, when he was 67, Roberts, who had been working on a strategy for South Africa since 1897, offered his services to the Government. He returned home early in 1901 as the hero who had retrieved the situation, and was rewarded with the Garter and an Earldom, honours present here in the title.
British-born Dawson Dawson-Watson grew up in an artistic family. He was one of the first members of the famous Impressionist colony at Giverny between 1888 and 1893, and then moved with his American wife to Hartford, Connecticut. He was again in England from 1898-1901, and this portrait appears to have been done, probably from a photograph, during the wave of popular enthusiasm surrounding Lord Roberts's return. Dawson-Watson became nationally known in the States as a painter of the hill country of Texas, particularly of wild flowers and cacti, and 'Among the flowers, Giverny' is one of his best known early works.
The stout brown paper of the drawing has apparently been re-used, one corner of some ink framing lines and 'Dawson-Watson, 1900' (in upright lettering) being visible on the verso.

Item Date:  1901

Stock No:  54891      £225

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