Posted 12 years ago
Chrisnp
(310 items)
I just bought this for the price of a cup of coffee about an hour ago. As a fan of Military art, I recognized the illustration as famous, and it made me laugh out loud that it was made into an ad for pills.
The illustration is from the painting “Fight for the Standard” by Richard Ansdell. The original hangs in Edinburg Castle, and depicts the moment the Scots Greys captured the standard of the French 45th Regiment at Waterloo.
Here the standard has been altered to hawk Ayer’s Pills, which the back of the card indicates just about cures everything. The third picture shows the original painting. The card measures 2 ½” x 4 ½”
Actually, I think it was done in bad taste. Using a famous gallant image to market constipation pills. How low can one stoop to make a $?
Yep, now that I consider it, I can understand that feeling. I guess I could laugh because it happened far away and long ago (both the battle and the ad). I'd probably think a whole lot less of it if it happened today with something like the Iwo Jima memorial.