Research into Georgian Europe

In my latest project, I've been supplied with a time period to base a character of "The Tinder-box" by Hans Christian Andersen around, and the era I have been allocated is "Georgian Europe". I have chosen the character of the "Soldier" for the sake of this project because the soldiers of this particular time period where known for bright uniforms, and I think I'll be able to adapt this and create a realistic character. In order to successfully transpose this character, I have to undertake some research into the time period itself. Below you can see the research I have done, along with a number of reference images for my chosen character.

The Georgian Era was the period of time between 1714 and 1830, and spans the reigns of the first four Hanoverian Kings; George I, George II, George III and George IV. After reading "The Tinder-Box" by Hans Christian Anderson, I would like to focus on the character of "The Soldier" for this particular project.

Architecture within this period of time was characterised by the emergence of the Gothic Revival style, similar to the image you can see to the right. This particular style of architecture is profoundly intertwined with the High Church and similar ideals, along with a strict resistance to the Modernism movement. The origins of this movement date back to the 1740's and is known as a very ornamental style, incorporating medieval gothic styling and contemporary materials and construction methods. This particular style of architecture has always interested me, with the medieval atmosphere that can be felt throughout the entire building, I would like to incorporate this kind of style in my own piece. However, I feel such a style would be better suited applied to the environment that the character finds himself. That way I could better capture the style of architecture in the greatest detail.

Soldiers among this time period typically dressed in a red regimental coat, a white shirt, grey trousers held up with braces, shoes and a cap. These caps differed for each regiment, and this is a detail I could look at changing, even the traditional Tricorne design could be replaced with something like a Shako. It was known that in some cases it was the bright colours incorporated in the uniform that attracted men to the army, so I can integrate this into my own work when I begin working with colour. Typical weaponry of this kind of Soldier was a Brown Bess Musket and a Bayonet, a very unreliable weapon. From the 1790's soldiers were also equipped with Service Swords, but these were carried by the cavalry or infantry officers.

Below I have included a number of reference images that I can refer to as I design this particular character and their respective environment: