Victorian 90th Winnipeg Rifles Bugler Portrait

A very nice original charcoal pastel portrait of what appears to be a Musician (perhaps Bugler) of the 90th Winnipeg Rifles. The portrait features a man in a rifle green tunic with "wings" to the shoulders (for musicians, like buglers, drummers, etc). The bugler wears a very nice looking peaked forage cap, as seen used by the British Army and Canadian militia around the Late Victorian period. The forage cap sports a badge which I can only assume is to the 90th Rifles (has the general appearance of the cap badges worn by the 90th around the 1890s. He also wears a cross strap that sports a badge, if you look very carefully at the badge, it looks sports the roman numerals "XC" or "90" for the 90th Winnipeg Rifles at the time. I would date this to the Late Victorian period, specifically the 1890s.

The portrait is in overall good condition for it's age, but does show signs of wear, but it's well over 100 years old so what can you expect, still looks and displays very well. A few areas darker/lighter than others, and one small tear to the bottom right side, but other than that a fantastic looking piece. I purchased this (without looking at the size in the description), I thought it was a small thing but was surprised to find out it's a pretty good size at approx. 20" tall x 15.75" wide. According to the seller, this piece was done with charcoal pastel, but I am not an art expert, nor do I collect it, so I have no idea, merely got it to add to the Winnipeg Rifles section of my collection. The piece is on a paper board, which has some light staining but looks nice.

Overall a super nice old portrait, and very rare to find even photographs to the Winnipeg Rifles. This piece is a one-off, but also rare in the sense that I'm sure there are very few portraits of Winnipeg Rifleman out there.

First post of the new year, hopefully 2018 will be a good year for collecting! As always I hope you have enjoyed this post.