Lord Mayor''s Show. The Mounted Band by PENNELL, Joseph (1857-1926) - 1897

London, 1897. Watercolor and gouache, on thick paper mounted to board, Signed within the image lower right, titled on the mount. Century Company label on verso. Image size: (14 3/4 x 10 3/4 inches). Published in The Century Magazine, Vol. 55, No. 3 (January 1898), as an illustration within an essay by Elizabeth Robbins Pennell titled "The Lord Mayor's Show." Joseph Pennell (1857-1926) is best known now for his etchings of New York City and Europe. He frequently collaborated with his wife, Elizabeth Robbins Pennell (1855-1935), as here in this drawing he did for an article she wrote for The Century Magazine. The Lord Mayor's Show celebrates the annual inauguration of the new Lord Mayor of London. Pennell has chosen the Mounted Band of the Queen's Household Cavalry portion of the Show. The Queen then was, of course, Victoria, but the mounted drummer and trumpeters are very much today as they were then. Pennell's depiction of the musical cavalry on white horses suggests the thrill of their approach in contrast to the foggy London sky, gray ancient buildings and the dark crowds on either side.