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Hero v. Bard (William Shakespeare; Giuseppe Garibaldi)

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Hero v. Bard (William Shakespeare; Giuseppe Garibaldi)

by Unknown artist
wood engraving, published by Fun 1864
11 3/8 in. x 8 5/8 in. (290 mm x 219 mm) paper size
Reference Collection
NPG D13122

Sittersback to top

  • Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882), Italian soldier; played central role in unification of Italy. Sitter associated with 23 portraits.
  • William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Dramatist and poet. Sitter associated with 105 portraits.

Artistback to top

Linked publicationsback to top

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1864back to top

Current affairs

First of the Contagious Diseases Act. These acts allowed for the arrest, medical inspection and confinement of any woman suspected of being a prostitute in the port towns. Following huge public outcry over their discrimination against women, notably led by Josephine Butler, leader of the Ladies' National Association, the acts were eventually repealed.
Octavia Hill starts work on slums, and the International Working Men's Association is founded in London.

Art and science

The Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell presents his discoveries in the field of electromagnetics to the Royal Society. His paper A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field expresses the basic laws of electricity and magnetism in unified fashion. Maxwell's equations, as his rules came to be known, helped create modern physics, laying the foundation for future work in special relativity and quantum mechanics.

International

Austria and Prussia combine forces to seize Schleswig-Holstein from Denmark.
Britain cedes Corfu, acquired from France in the Second Treaty of Paris (1815) to Greece. Although Britain had vigorously suppressed an uprising in 1849 in Cephalonia aiming to restore Iolian islands, the government changed policy throughout the 1850s and 60s.

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