Oil paint on canvas
Tate Britain
Tate Collection
Works with images
Works on display
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/arthur-boyd-houghton-278" aria-label="More by Arthur Boyd Houghton" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Arthur Boyd Houghton</a>
Volunteers
Purchased 1926
actions: expressive
adults
anti-French militia, 1859-60
architecture
boy
children
clothing and personal items
girl
graveyard
hat, bonnet
history
landscape
leaving
man
military
military
objects
path
people
pram
society
soldier
talking
townscapes / man-made features
transport: land
woman
wooded
work and occupations
<p>This painting shows a group of infantrymen recruiting for the Volunteer Movement which swept Britain between 1859 and 1860. It was fuelled by the revolutions in Continental Europe in 1848 and British mistrust of France.As Houghton shows in this painting, the volunteers were mainly recruited from the middle classes. They felt it was their patriotic duty to enlist in one of the volunteer battalions. But there appears to be a general lack of interest from the civilians in this painting. The gentleman on the left is carefully not looking at the soldiers.</p><p><em>Gallery label, July 2007</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
1 August 2005 – 2 March 2008
2008-03-02
1 August 2007
2007-08-01
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2005-08-01
Victorian Paintings of Modern Life
Collection based display
7 August 2014 – 24 July 2022
2022-07-24
7 August 2014
2014-08-07
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2014-08-07
Gallery 9
Collection based display
26 September 2022
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2022-09-26
Gallery 9
Collection based display
Volunteers
support: 305 × 394 mm
frame: 490 × 591 × 70 mm
Purchased 1926
<p>This painting shows a group of infantrymen recruiting for the Volunteer Movement which swept Britain between 1859 and 1860. It was fuelled by the revolutions in Continental Europe in 1848 and British mistrust of France.As Houghton shows in this painting, the volunteers were mainly recruited from the middle classes. They felt it was their patriotic duty to enlist in one of the volunteer battalions. But there appears to be a general lack of interest from the civilians in this painting. The gentleman on the left is carefully not looking at the soldiers.</p>

Display caption
2007-07-10T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
actions: expressive adults anti-French militia, 1859-60 architecture boy children clothing and personal items girl graveyard hat, bonnet history landscape leaving man military military objects path people pram society soldier talking townscapes / man-made features transport: land woman wooded work and occupations