Which Osprey title is this plate from ?

[Graham Sumner]

Hello All

Theodosius wrote:

I noticed this Tribune's tunic as well with that purple hem which has a mysterious origin. When I get the book maybe it will explain where McBride drew his inspiration from. I'll let you know, but you're probably right in suspecting it's just a copy of Connolly's

I am pretty sure it is a straight copy from Connolly's work. Looking through the book 'Imperial Rome at war' it is not specified exactly what the sources were but I suspect that it owed a great deal to other earlier Osprey titles, Peter Connolly's books and Ronald Embleton's illustrations for the Frank Graham series on Hadrian's Wall. The only academic work hinted at is Nicholas Fuentes' research on the Roman tunic but most of the other details probably relied on Bishop and Coulston's book.

Conal wrote:

I had assumed that he drew what he was told to by the author .. is that a wrong assuption ?

I have a copy of a book written as well as illustrated by McBride dating back to 1971 called 'The Roman Empire'. As he has continued to specialize in historical illustration I would have thought that like any other illustrator he has built up a library of background reference material on a variety of subjects including the Roman army. However it would be normal practice for the author to supply the artist with all the historical references required as I had to for Graham Turner (see below).

Faventianus wrote:

Like this one?: http://geocities.com/ivarmaelstrom/bagaudae.jpg

No, That illustration is taken from Tim Newark's book The Barbarians. The illustration I refer to was in Military Illustrated No.9 October/November 1987 alongside a rather splendid Highlander. Unlike a lot of his other illustrations the equipment details like belt plates and horse harness fittings are not sketched in but accurately realized.

Virilis Finlandicus wrote:

Personally I like very much Graham Turner`s illustrations on Graham Sumner`s "Roman Army: Wars of the Empire".

Does anyone know if Graham Turner has done some other illustrations on roman military history?

I got to know the other Graham quite well working with him on that book. In case you do not know he is the son of the famous aviation artist Michael Turner and both of them have frequent joint exhibitions of their work which are well worth visiting. It was an interesting experience for me working with and providing information for another artist and I was really pleased with the final results.

As far as I know Graham has not painted any more Roman subjects. His own field of interest was the medieval period and much of his subsequent work for Osprey has been for titles relating to that era.

Graham.