Major General the Honourable Sir Charles Howard, CB, Colonel of the Regiment 1745

David Morier painted this portrait of Major General Sir Charles Howard using oil on canvas. The brushstrokes are quite apparent, particularly in the background, which gives an interesting tension with the formality of the subject. But think about the material reality of those scarlet military coats; each was hand-sewn in a 'slop shop,' likely by a woman working long hours for very low pay. While the General would have sat for Morier, and had his likeness captured for posterity, the uniform in which he appears would have been made through a rather different process. The costuming is so precise, and carries so much symbolic weight, yet the reality of its making reveals hidden stories of labor and class. Paying attention to the material realities of the objects depicted, and how they were made, helps us consider the full social and political context of an artwork like this. It challenges a simple interpretation based on status, instead revealing complex relationships of power.