A pair of early 19th c watercolours of a solider and sailor with wooden legs

A delightful pair of early 19th century watercolours depicting a sailor and a solider witch wooden legs.   The sailor, complete with eye patch, is soaking his wooden legs in a bowl of hot water and beneath him it says : “A cure for a  cold”.    The soldier in his red jacket, balances precariously, clutching a clay pipe in his hand, and beneath him it says:  “Well I never could keep my legs”.

During the period following the Napoleonic wars it wouldn’t have been unusual to see men returning from the wars with a range of injuries, including wooden legs although it isn’t that often these paintings are ever found in pairs.

In later frames.

Measuring:  (frame size - 16.5 cm x 12.5 cm)

English, c. 1830