Coldstream fifers, St James’s Park, London 

James Tissot made this painting of Coldstream fifers in St James’s Park, London, using oil on canvas. The image presents a moment of repose for members of an elite regiment. Tissot’s approach to genre painting often focused on the leisure activities of the upper classes. Here, the artist portrays the fifers not in a moment of military display or service, but relaxing in one of London’s Royal Parks. The Coldstream Guards, as a unit of the Household Division, performed ceremonial duties as well as fighting in campaigns abroad, such as the Crimean War. The institutional history of the British military during this period reveals an army supplied by private contractors, in which aristocratic officers bought and sold their commissions. Art historians can consult regimental records and social histories of the Victorian era to understand how this image reflects specific social structures of its time. In this way we can better appreciate the nuanced meanings of images such as this.