Richard Redgrave was an artist, arts educator, arts administrator, historian, and curator. He was Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures (cataloguing the Royal Collection), and he was awarded the France’s highest order of merit, the Légion d’honneur in 1855.
He also found time to be a social realist.
“It is one of my most gratifying feelings that many of my best efforts in art have aimed at calling attention to the trials and struggles of the poor and the oppressed.”– Richard Redgrave (as quoted in Lambourne, Lionel. Victorian Painting. London and New York: Phaidon, 2003 pp 378-80. Link)
The Deserter’s Home was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1847. The conditions of the British Army during that time were less than ideal, barracks more overcrowded than poor workhouses, high rates of disease, no laundries, and pretty much no accommodation for married couples. No wonder so many deserted.
This is a decima italiana. More of my poetry here.
For some other grandmother-style meals: tomato soup like my mother used to make, shepherd’s pie, meatballs, corned silverside, and this foolproof beef casserole. Not to mention stewed rhubarb for dessert.
When the Soldiers are Coming
Grandmothers with prayers and aprons,
potatoes and braised mutton stews,
rich-crust breads, slices of bacon,
black pudding, onions, and pease soups,
their hands as rough as earthenware,
risk their own hearths and their own homes,
disappear whole in the background,
while binding the family whole.
They prepare with forks to confound
threats. For danger, sharp silverware.
©elsp 2026
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