Lot 226: AMEDEE FORESTIER (1854-1930) A FOOT COMBAT CIRCA

AMEDEE FORESTIER (1854-1930) A FOOT COMBAT CIRCA 1460 Signed, dated and inscribed l.l 'To Guy Laking in friendly remembrance A Forestier 1912; gouache on board 37.5cm x 56.5; 14 ¥in x 22 ╝ The detail of this may be inspired in part by the Tournament Book of RenÚ d'Anjou < and perhaps the Pageant of the Birth, Life and Death of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. Sir Guy Laking (1875-1919) was one of the most distinguished students of arms and armour of his time. He is best known for his five-volume Record of European Armour and Arms through Seven Centuries, posthumously published in 1920-2 (see lot 318). He was Honorary Inspector of the Armouries at the Wallace Collection, London (appointed 1900, shortly after the collection was bequeathed to the nation), Keeper of the King's Armoury (a post specially created for him by Edward VII in 1902), first Keeper and Secretary of the London Museum from its foundation in 1911, and Vice President of the Meyrick Society from 1910 to his death in 1919. He took an active part in the "Triumph Presented at Shakespeare's England" on 11 July 1912, when he appeared dressed in armour as "The Knight Marshall of the Lists". The present picture was painted in the year of the Earl's Court Tournament though it does not appear to be of that event as there are notable discrepancies in the form of combat. The artist Sir AmÚdÚe Forestier (1854-1930) specialized in historical and prehistoric scenes, and landscapes < He was one of the forty distinguished guests invited to the famous Meyrick Society dinner in the following year, namely on 5 December 1913, in which roast peacock pie was served up and Laking's nanny ( perhaps also his mistress), Miss Hilda Green, dressed up as Joan of Ark.