A lavishly historiated almanac produced to raise funds for The Royal Patriotic Fund, a charity established in October 1854 by Queen Victoria for the support of widows and orphans of men lost in the line of duty during the Crimean War.
The almanac calendar occupies the centre of the print, and includes key moments in the conflict to date, including the Battle of Inkerman and the bombing of Sebastopol, as well as other relevant military events from the region. A ribbon banner above gives the name of the four major battles to date: Balaklava, Alma, Inkerman, and Sebastopol. This sits within a wide historiated boarder of highly sentimentalised scenes. On one side is a female personification of War, dark-haired with sword raised, leaning on a cannon, an angel begging mercy and the raging battlefield beneath. On the other, Peace looks down, olive branch in hand, over the joyful reunion of a returning soldier with his family. In the lower margin, a widow and child weep, as her husband lies dead beneath a crescent moon symbolising the east.
The Royal Patriotic Fund was established ‘By Her Majesty’s Command’ in October 1854 with Prince Albert as its President. Its purpose was to coordinate the collection and distribution of money donated by the public for the widows and orphans of men killed during the war. Commissioners were appointed across the country, and aid was distributed according to the needs of each family. Lady Cadogan also had at least one of the original illustrations in the almanac’s design displayed at the Patriotic Fund Exhibition held at Ernest Gambart’s French Gallery on Pall Mall in March 1855. This exhibition was restricted to artworks produced by ladies with an elevated rank in society, with any money raised there designated unashamedly, solely for the ‘widows and orphans of British Officers.’ Colnaghi sold the print for half a crown and advertised it only for a few weeks in January 1855, making it difficult to estimate how much was raised.
Lady Augusta Sarah Cadogan (1811-1882) was the eldest daughter of 3rd Earl of Cadogan, Lady-in-waiting to the Duchess of Cambridge. We know hardly anything about her, however, she was clearly a competent artist - although her social standing in society meant that this talent had no outlet other than for good works, and portraits of friends and acquaintances through her role as Lady-in-waiting. David Laurent de Lara dedicated his Elementary Instruction in the Art of Illumination and Missal Painting on Vellum (1850) in which he exudes that Lady Augusta ‘Were it not that your Ladyship has evinced so passionate an enthusiasm for the Art of Illuminating, in which few of my Pupils have succeeded in attaining that eminence your Ladyship has, I should have deemed this an intrusion; but, convinced that anything connected with Calligraphy is always interesting to your Ladyship’ Before this dedication Augusta together with her sister had published in 1845 a series of coloured lithographs Recollections of Rome in 1843 her only other publication was in 1850 when Joseph Cundall issued her illustrated Book of Ruth, which was like the Almanac was also produced for charitable purposes.
We have located copies at the BL, and the National Library of Ireland. The latter also hold a similar Colnaghi almanac also after a drawing by Lady Cadogan, for the following year and with a different illustration.
