Rugby at Rugby in 1852

This is an old litho c1900 captionned "Rugby at Rugby in 1852", from an earlier painting by George Barnard (larger pic here).

I am afraid that I've been unable to date and locate the original painting, neither to find any information on this painter (more than these poor facts on Artnet)... any suggestion would be appreciated.

Anyhow, this painting certainly ranges among the oldest representations of our favorite sport... it shows a large number of students, old and young, running with a ball on the Big Side. I'm inviting you to check these earlier posts to get more about playing fields at Rugby School and the players' kits ("skull and crossbones": here and there).

Please also check this fantastic photography provided by Nigel Trueman @ www.rugbyfootballhistory.com to better "feel" this "seminal" mid XIXth century rugby football...



This picture (larger pic here) is believed to be the oldest photography of Rugby School Team - "skull and crossbones" kit, again! - , taken in 1855 in Oxford. The captain, holding the ball, is young Richard Sykes, future captain of Manchester RFC (Hi Lorenzo !) and accredited with introducing the rugby game to the USA in the 1870s according to Wikipedia.... This being said, we'll not discuss the "paternity" of American rugby right now : there certainly were several British ruggers involved in the same period of time (1870s) in different places... cf the story of old Rubeian D.S.Schaff introducing rugby in Yale, 1871.

And now, let's prepare for South Africa... test match versus France next Saturday... I hope that the vuvuzelas of FIFA World Cup won't disturb the game...