Britain and France, 1688 to 1856

From Enmity to Amity:
Britain and France, 1688 to 1856
Fine Art Consultant, Maritime Specialist & Lecturer
Conservation of Paintings, Frames and Sculpture
From Enmity to Amity: Britain and France, 1688 to 1856
Julia Korner
The River House, 52 Strand on the Green, London W4 3PD, United Kingdom (By appointment only)
Tel: +44 (0)20 8747 1652 | Mob: 07771 713980 | Fax: +44 (0)20 8742 7419
E-mail: [email protected] | www.juliakorner.com
A RT I S T S ’ I N D E X
1-3.
Peter Monamy (1681-1749)
4.
Francis Swaine (c.1725 – 1782)
5.
William Anderson (1757-1837)
6-7.
Samuel Atkins (fl.1787-1808)
8
Lieutenant Thomas Yates, R.N. (1765-1796)
9.
Robert Dodd (1748-1815)
10.
Charles Martin Powell (1775-1824)
11.
Thomas Goodwin (c. 1796)
12.
Pierre-Julien Gilbert (1783-1860)
13-15. Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827)
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16.
European School (c.1810)
17.
Cadet Alfred Wintle (c.1801)
18.
Ange-Joseph Antoine Roux (1765-1835)
19.
Lt. Col. Basil Jackson (1795-1889)
20.
Charles Oldfield Bowles (1785-1862)
21.
Henry Warren, PNWS (1794-1879)
22.
Sir Oswald Walters Brierly, Kt., R.W.S. (1817-1894)
23.
W. L. Wall (c.1855)
24.
Lieutenant-General Gaspard Le Marchant Tupper (British, 1826-1906)
25.
Alfred Quesnay de Beaurepaire, called Beaurepaire (1830-1898)
From Enmity to Amity: Britain and France, 1688 to 1856
It has become an almost self-evident truth that Great Britain came into being in opposition and in contra-distinction to
France: beefy, brawny, liberal-minded, wealth-creating and, above all, Protestant compared to namby-pamby, sauce-loving,
corrupt France, in fief to absolutist monarchs and Catholic hierarchy. It was a tradition that died hard. Many will recall a
marvellous moment in Tony Richardson's 1968 film The Charge of the Light Brigade when Lord Raglan, played magnificently
and mischievously by Sir John Gielgud, has to be reminded by his chief of staff that it is the Russians, not the French, who
are the enemy. Raglan's temporary confusion is forgivable, given the age-old rivalry with France and Raglan's own experience
as a young officer (and later as Military Secretary) on Wellington's staff during the Peninsular War and, later, the loss of his
right arm at Waterloo.
From the Glorious Revolution of 1688, when the Catholic James II abandoned his Court, fled to France and was replaced
on the throne by his daughter, Mary and her Dutch consort, William III of Orange, England (and, in due course, Great
Britain) spent almost as many years at war with France as at peace. Indeed, the continued hostilities might well be termed
a second 'Hundred Years' War'. At first these wars were grounded in the perceived political imperative of maintaining the
balance of power in Europe, since the House of Hanover, rulers of Britain from 1714, initially took almost more interest in
its German possessions than it did in the kingdom which was the true source of wealth and power. The enmity and rivalry
between Britain and France was not confined for long to Europe but spread overseas, as both countries sought to expand
and protect trade and, by necessity as much as by choice, to extend political influence. Indeed, some call the Seven Years'
War (1756 to 1763) the first true global conflict, since it encompassed, by land and by sea, campaigns in continental Europe,
in the Mediterranean, in the American colonies, in Canada, in the West Indies and on the Indian subcontinent.
The lengthy period of belligerence, which saw Britain and France at war for some seventy-five years between 1688 and 1815,
was brought to an end at Waterloo, whose two hundredth anniversary will be celebrated in June 2015. Forty years later, Britain
fought side-by-side with France in the Crimean campaign to defend Turkey from Russian aggression. Britain's rivalry with
France did not end overnight, of course, and flared up later in the century as the quest for influence in Africa brought the
two countries into head-to-head confrontation. Nonetheless there were no armed hostilities post Waterloo.
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This catalogue provides a sample of the artistic comment of this period of Anglo-French rivalry.
The artists include Paul Monamy (1681-1746), probably the most renowned and influential British naval painter of the
Eighteenth Century, immediate successor of the van der Velde father and son who, at the invitation of Charles II, left the
Netherlands and launched the tradition of naval painting which many consider to be quintessentially British, despite its firm
Dutch origins. Seascapes, naval actions, ship portraiture (as much of merchantmen as of men-of-war) and swashbuckling
portraits of victorious admirals and captains dominate the formal art of the early part of the Eighteenth Century. The Navy
is celebrated more obviously than the Army, perhaps for reasons of unhappy history. England (and subsequently Britain) had
forsworn a standing army since the Civil War of the mid-Seventeenth Century for fear of its being used as a sovereign
instrument of oppression, as it had been under Charles I and Cromwell. Despite military victories, such as those of
Marlborough during the War of Spanish Succession (1701 to 1713), senior military men were treated with suspicion whilst
the relatively untrained levies which came to form the backbone of armies were treated with a mixture of amusement and
fear (as in Hogarth's March of the Guards, a 'must see' at the Foundling Museum, Brunswick Square, London, as indeed is
the whole museum). In distinct contrast, the Navy was embraced, if not canonised: “The sea is our barrier, ships are our
fortresses and the mariners, that trade and commerce alone can furnish, are the garrisons to defend them.” So wrote the
politician, historian and philosopher, Viscount Bolingbroke, contemporary of Marlborough. Within the catalogue, the
traditional naval style is represented by MonaMy's afterMath of Battle (Illustration 1), the double-decker man-of-war
thought to be hMs lIon, by Francis Swaine, (1725-1782), Monamy's son-in-law, and the Battle of Copenhagen by Robert
Dodd (1748-1815). The Swaine and Dodd are illustrated respectively on pages 15 and 25 of the catalogue.
These naval scenes are supplemented by work by Samuel Atkins (fl.1787-1808) who secured display of his work at the Royal
Academy between 1787 and 1796. His watercolours of flagshIps passIng In the Channel and two VIews off the Isle of
wIght (Illustrations 6, 7a & b) are likely to date from this period as thereafter he spent eight years in the East Indies
(1796 to 1804) before returning to England shortly before his death. Lieutenant Thomas Yates (1765-1795), whose
portsMouth harBour appears also in the catalogue (Illustration 8) was rather less of a distinguished artist than Atkins but
nothing so became him as his memorably tragi-comical death, a result of a fatal encounter in the kitchen with the protector
of a lady with whom he had fallen out.
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The military ethos within this catalogue is represented by the high-quality, illustrated map of Santarem On The Tagus,
executed in 1801 by Alfred Wintle, a young officer in the 'Royal French Engineers'. The work is a reminder that the evolution
of the watercolour owes a debt to the armed services, with instruction in drawing integral to the training of young military
and naval officers. Such skills, directed essentially towards the production of charts and maps, lent themselves also to the
recording and the illustration of landscape, coastline and vessel.
Artists responding to the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1793 to 1815) are well represented in this catalogue. No
exhibition of this period would be complete without the watercolours of Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827). the royal
artIllery on exerCIse, also known (pejoratively?) as the Baggage traIn (Illustration 13), CoMBIned serVICes: arMy and
naVy reCuperatIng In CanterBury (Illustration 14) and low tIde, greenwICh (Illustration 15) are to be found here. For
popular responses to the longest European conflict since the Thirty Years' War (1618 to 1648), we include a set of twelve
watercolours of local characters executed during the Peninsular War by a skilled, but as yet unidentified, artist (Illustrations
16, a-l). The maritime tradition is upheld by arguably the most talented of the Roux family of ship-portraitists from Marseilles,
(Ange-Joseph) Antoine Roux (1765-1835), with a number of sketches of vessels, sailors and fishermen (Illustrations 18, a-f).
As every schoolboy used to know, after Waterloo Napoleon was transported on 'Billy Ruffian' (HMS Bellerophon) to the midAtlantic island of St Helena, so as to ensure that his distance from civilisation would put an end to his imperial ambitions.
This came indeed to pass and, already in ill health before his banishment. Napoleon died relatively young in 1821.
Basil Jackson, one of the young British officers guarding Napoleon at his home at Longwood House, captured his likeness on
a number of occasions. The resulting watercolour is to be found on page 47 (Illustration 19).
Henry Warren (1794-1879) deserves to be much better known. He joined the Royal Academy schools in 1818 and studied
sculpture under Joseph Nollekens before turning his attention to oils and watercolours. He became a member of the New
Society of Painters in Watercolour in 1835, four years after its foundation, and served as President for almost thirty-five years
(1839 to 1873). He was a gifted illustrator, demonstrated by his work for the John Murray's 1841 edition of Byron's Childe
Harold's Pilgrimage. Three original illustrations are presented in this catalogue: from the First Canto (stanza XL)
talaVera's plaIn, wIth a dIstant VIew of talaVera de la reIna, sw of MadrId; from the Second Canto (stanza XLVIII)
MonastIC ZItsa; and from the same Canto (stanzas LXXI and LXXII) the danCe of the palIkars (Illustrations 21, a-c).
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The final highlights of this catalogue are the illustrations of scenes from the Crimea, where French and British troops fought
side by side. It appears not well known that the French endured between three or four times the quantity of casualties
suffered by the British. We feature works from both the major allies. Sir Oswald Walters Brierly (1817-1894) was a welltravelled and well-educated son of a Cheshire doctor. He studied naval architecture and the construction of rigging at
Plymouth and, shortly after exhibiting drawings in 1839 at the Royal Academy, embarked on a 10-year, round-the-world
voyage. This took him initially to Australia and thence, after a lengthy stay and excursions, across the Pacific to South America,
from which he returned to England in 1851. His illustrations of the latter part of the voyage on HMS Meander, captained by
the Hon. Henry Keppel, were published in 1853 and it was with Keppel now Admiral, that he went, after the declaration of
war in February 1854 with Russia, first to the Baltic and then to the Black Sea. His drawings and sketches duly found a place
in the Illustrated London News. MeetIng of englIsh and russIan flags of truCe off seBastopol (Illustration 22)
commemorates Lieutenant Algernon Heneage, RN of HMS St Jean d'Acre (Kepppel's flagship) receiving the sword of Sir John
Campbell from the Russians under flag of truce on 27th June 1855. Major General Sir John Campbell was the son of General
Sir Archibald Campbell, who had served as Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick. Campbell fils joined his father's regiment,
the 38th, in 1821 and served in India, Burma, the Mediterranean, the West Indies and Nova Scotia. In 1854, at the outbreak
of hostilities with Russia, he was promoted to Brigadier General and was selected to command the 2nd Brigade of the 3rd
Division. Following the battles of the Alma and Inkerman, he was promoted again, to Major General, and placed in charge
of the 4th Division. On the fortieth anniversary of Waterloo (18th June 1855) he lost his life in an assault on the Great
Redan, one of the heavily-fortified positions protecting Sebastopol. The sword retrieved by Lieutenant Heneage is now to be
found in the National War Museum at Edinburgh Castle.
Despite his name, Lieutenant General Gaspard Le Marchant Tupper (1826-1906) had few links with France and hailed instead
from the Channel Islands. A captain and, subsequently, Brevet Major in the Royal Regiment of Artillery, Tupper served with
distinction at the battles of Balaklava and Inkerman (1854) and took part in the siege and fall of Sebastopol (1855). He was
honoured by many of the allies, shown by his receipt of medals from the British, Sardinian and Turkish authorities. His
career continued with distinction overseas and in Britain and he was gazetted a Lieutenant General in 1888 with a final CB
awarded in 1905 on the fiftieth anniversary of the fall of Sebastopol. His facility at drawing is made plain by his sketches of
fort CatherIne and fort nICholas, and of seBastopol. (Illustrations 24, a-b). In the spirit of entente cordiale we offer
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also four sCenes froM the CrIMea (Illustrations 25, a-d) executed by Alfred Quesnay de Beaurepaire (1830-1898), a painter
and novelist from Saumur. Despite his interest in military scenes, there is scant evidence of a military career (if he had one)
and his surname remains notorious by virtue of his brother's involvement in the Dreyfus affair.
Since the Crimean War, British and French artists have responded to scenes of war in different ways but, like the poetry of
the First World War, the scenes which display devastation and loss are often more highly regarded than those which celebrate
success. It seems fitting thus to end with some of the words of the third Canto of Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage,
illustrations to which by Henry Warren are to be found elsewhere in this catalogue:
XVII
Stop! - for thy tread is on Empire's dust!
An Earthquake's spoil is sepulchred below!
Is the spot mark'd with no colossal bust?
Nor column trophied for triumphal show?
None; but the moral's truth tells simpler so,
As the ground was before, thus let it be; How that red rain hath made the harvest grow!
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1. peter Monamy (1681-1749)
The Aftermath of Battle, thought to be Vigo Bay, 23rd October, 1702
signed ‘P Monamy Pinx’ (lower left)
oil on canvas
11 ½ x 29 ¾ in. (29.2 x 75.6 cm.)
in its original carved and gilded frame with various collection marks on the stretcher, verso
PROVENANCE:
Thought to be an over-door executed for a panelled room within a distinguished, private residence.
Monamy was fascinated by the phenomenon of ships ablaze and by the challenge of handling the variation in light and shade
in such scenes. He was the first English painter to be interested in such subject matter and his acquired skill became very
much his speciality. He passed on this interest to his son-in- law, Francis Swaine (1725-1782), who also produced a large
number of similar scenes.
The scene depicted is thought to be the aftermath of the Battle of Vigo Bay, 23rd October 1702. At the start of the War of
the Spanish Succession a joint Anglo-Dutch expedition, under the joint command of Philips van Almonde and of Admiral
George Rooke, set out to capture Cadiz and thereby to secure a base in the Iberian Peninsula. The amphibious assault on Cadiz
proved little short of a disaster and the force fell back. Shortly afterwards, on his way back to Britain, Rooke received
intelligence that the annual Spanish treasure fleet, on its return from South America, had sheltered in Vigo Bay, under the
protection of French ships-of-the-line. A combined operation neutralised the forts protecting the Franco-Spanish fleet and
the British vanguard, led by Brooke, broke a protective boom and attacked the enemy fleet. The ferocious attack proved
overwhelmingly successful. Vigo Bay proved a major naval defeat for the combined enemy fleet: all fifteen ships of the line,
two frigates and a fire-ship on the French side were captured or burned. A similar fate awaited the Spanish contingent, with
three galleons and thirteen trading ships captured or sunk. The only disappointment lay in the prior unloading of much of
the treasures from South America and, ironically, much of the seized cargo belonged to Dutch merchants. Nonetheless, the
outcome of the victory was to persuade the vacillating Portuguese to transfer their reluctant allegiance from the Grand
Alliance of France and Spain to that of the Maritime Powers as well as to enrich modestly the victorious combatants.
Please see catalogue number 3 for the biography of this artist
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2. studio of peter Monamy (1681–1746)
The Battle of Malaga, 13th August, 1704
oil on canvas
12 ¾ x 17 ¼ in. (32.4 x 43.9 cm.)
The Battle of Malaga, 13th August, 1704, proved to be one of the more indecisive naval battles of the War of the Spanish
Succession. Three weeks after the Allies had captured Gibraltar, le Comte de Toulouse sailed from Toulon with fifty shipsof-the line with the intention of bringing the Allied fleet to battle and of retaking Gibraltar. Admiral Sir George Rooke was
in overall command of the Anglo-Dutch fleet, which comprised fifty-three ships-of-the-line, with Admiral Cloudesley Shovell
leading the van division and the Dutch Admiral Callenburgh the rear. His ships were low on ammunition, much having been
expended during the bombardment of Gibraltar.
The action developed into a hard cannonading duel, which lasted many hours but was devoid of decisive result. Although
neither fleet lost a ship, many were badly damaged and casualties were extremely heavy. Next day de Toulouse made no
attempt to renew the action and Rooke returned to Gibraltar, unchallenged. Then, having reinforced the garrison, he took
the main body of the fleet home, leaving a small squadron under Sir John Leake to winter at Lisbon. Meanwhile, the French
fleet retuned to Toulon, to claim victory. This proved to be a somewhat hollow assertion as the French fleet thereafter never
challenged in force the Anglo-Dutch fleet.
Monamy is known to have painted several versions of this Battle.
Please see catalogue number 3 for the biography of this artist
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3. Circle of peter Monamy (1689-1749)
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Vessels becalmed in a bay drying their sails
oil on canvas
21 ½ x 33 ½ in. (55 x 86 cm.)
In a period style gold leaf and gesso frame
This subject matter was one of Monamy’s favourites. Most of these pictures are medium to small sized seascapes, with very attractive light, wellcomposed and perfect to hang as ‘cabinet’ works, ideal for the smaller rooms rather than the larger works executed for stately homes.
His pictures of small ships at sea, in a moderate or light breeze, are some of his best and comprise decorative scenes of calm: ships at anchor,
with their sails drooping, usually set in an estuary with some land visible, often with a fort or castle.
They form a wonderful record of the maritime panorama of the first half of the Eighteenth Century. They are bright, realistic, attractive and
were readily saleable (still are!) and must have been his best commercial asset, keeping him in reasonable circumstances for most of his life.
peter Monamy was probably the most renowned and influential British naval painter of the Eighteenth Century and the immediate successor
of the van de Velde father and son who, thanks to the invitation of Charles II, left the Netherlands and launched the tradition of naval painting
which many consider to be quintessentially British, despite its firm Dutch origins.
Born in London, the youngest son of a merchant from an old Channel Islands family, Monamy was baptised at St. Botolph’s Church, Aldgate
on 12th January, 1681. In 1696 he began his seven-year apprenticeship to William Clarke, a former Master of the Painter-Stainers’ Company. Clarke
was a well-established tradesman, based on Old London Bridge and nearby Thames Street, serving London merchants in the decoration of their
houses, and as painter of the ornate trade signboards advertising City businesses. Monamy was freed of his apprenticeship in 1704, on the same
day as Sir James Thornhill, who later decorated the Painted Hall at Greenwich Naval College.
Monamy’s early works are painted in a manner reminiscent of his native English contemporaries. As he matured he raised his game to fill the
void left by the van de Veldes father and son, but close copies can be counted on the fingers of two hands.
Monamy remained highly influential. The re-opening in 1736 of Vauxhall Gardens led to the display there of major works by Monamy, as well
as by William Hogarth (1697-1764), Francis Hayman (1708-76)) and other English artists. With the advent of war against Spain and France in
1739 Monamy’s style shed all continental influence, and he worked with renewed industry rather in the manner of his early years, dying at his
house in Old Palace Yard in early February 1749.
Monamy’s full range is very wide, covering every maritime theme on canvas, wood panel and on copper; in etchings, book illustration, and many
engravings in mezzotint and line. His work was produced for Buckingham Palace, aristocratic houses and the manors of landed gentry; for City
merchants and livery halls; for naval officers such as Lord Torrington as well as for lesser sea-dogs; and even a public house sign. With his rural
counterpart, John Wootton (1682-1764), Monamy was one of the two founders of the English School of the ‘prospect’ or ‘view’, culminating
eventually in the landscapes and seascapes of Constable and Turner.
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4. francis swaine (c.1725 – 1782)
A two-decker man-of-war, thought to be HMS Lion, in a calm
signed and dated ‘F Swaine 1771’
pencil, pen and grey wash on laid
14½ x 21 in. (37 x 53.4 cm.)
This exquisite drawing displays to a masterful extent Swaine’s ability as a draughtsman. Most of his drawings are neat, tidy
and accurate and are meant to be finished works of art in themselves.
Francis Swaine was the natural successor to Peter Monamy and, indeed, he married Monamy’s daughter in 1749, just five
months after her father’s death. He is thought to have been his pupil since his style of painting and his light and colourful
palette is so similar that he may have worked in Monamy’s studio for many years. It is even thought that Swaine may have
finished some of the unfinished paintings found in his father-in-law’s studio at his death.
Swaine is first recorded in a list for 1735 of clerks and officers working for the Treasurer and Commissioners of the Royal
Navy. His close contemporary was the remarkable prodigy, Charles Brooking (1723-1759) and Swaine is known to have made
copies of some of his compositions.
He was fortunate to have been successful at a time when the societies for the encouragement and exhibition of painters’ works
were beginning to appear. He was a regular exhibitor at the Free Society from 1761 to 1782 and at the Society of Arts from
1762 to 1782 but, strangely enough, not at the Royal Academy. He exhibited from an address near Avery Farm in Chelsea.
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5. william anderson (1757-1837)
A two-decker lying at anchor, drying her sails as she takes on stores
pencil, pen and watercolour
6 ¼ x 8 ½ in. (15.8 21.6 cm.)
Little is known of Anderson’s early life except that he was born in Scotland and became a shipwright. He also learned to be
a meticulous draftsman, and, when he was about thirty, made his way south to London to set up as a marine painter. His
early style is firmly based on the Dutch 17th Century School and, though he lived well into the 19th Century, he never made
any concessions to the Romantic Movement.
Although he executed some large canvases, he is best known for his small coastal seascapes, which sold well and still do. He
first exhibited in 1787 at the Royal Academy and at the British Institution in 1810. Not all his exhibited paintings were marine
pictures: in 1822 his exhibition piece at the British Institution was the ‘Battle of Waterloo’. At the Royal Academy in 1824 he
exhibited a view of Tynemouth, which pointed to his journey and stay in the North East. Here he influenced the Hull School
of painters and, in particular, the highly-talented John Ward (1798-1849) who copied at least one of his paintings of Greenwich
Reach and who was to remain a life-long friend. Anderson’s last exhibition piece at the Royal Academy, in 1834, was a major
work, ‘Lord Howe’s Fleet at Spithead’. He died in London, 27th May, 1837.
He was a friend of Julius Caesar Ibbotson, who is believed to have collaborated with him on some paintings. He had a son,
William Guido Anderson, who joined the Royal Navy and who was mortally wounded as a midshipman in the Bellona, at
the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801.
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6. samuel atkins (fl.1787-1808)
Flagships passing in the Channel
pencil, pen and watercolour on laid paper
12 ½ x 18 in. (30.5 x 46 cm.)
Samuel Atkins was a master of small, charming shipping scenes. First exhibiting at the Royal Academy in 1787, he was to continue
every year (with only one exception) until 1796 when he travelled to the East Indies and the Far East. The delightful pair of
watercolours on the following page are thought to be his last exhibited pictures, in 1808, from an address in The Strand, London.
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7. samuel atkins (fl.1787-1808)
Two views of shipping off the Isle of Wight
both signed ‘Atkins’
pencil, pen and watercolour
4 x 12 in. (10 x 30 cm.)
A pair
(2)
EXHIBITED:
London, Royal Academy, 1808 ‘A Pair of Sea Views’
Please see catalogue number 6 for the biography of this artist
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8. lieutenant thomas yates, r.n. (1765-1796)
Portsmouth Harbour, ‘Southern Spithead’
signed, inscribed and dated ‘T. Yates 1792/Southern Spithead’
pencil, pen, watercolour and bodycolour
7½ x 10 in. (19 x 25.5 cm.)
Lieutenant Thomas Yates, R.N. passed for a lieutenant in the Royal Navy in 1782 but it is not clear when he gave up the sea
for a career as an artist. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1788 and continued until 1794, his works are rare because
of his short working life. He specialised in actions from the French Revolutionary War and his works have a fine sense of
detail and finish.
He shared a London house that had belonged to his great-uncle with a Miss Jones and in August, 1796, they were engaged
in a dispute about ownership. On the afternoon of 29th August, Yates took a stroll in the garden after dinner and Miss Jones
locked him out. As he attempted to climb back in through the kitchen window, a Mr Sellers, who had called in to protect
Miss Jones, shot him. At the trial the jury returned a verdict of manslaughter. Sellers was fined one shilling and imprisoned
for six months.
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9. robert dodd (1748-1815)
The Battle of Copenhagen, 1801
oil on canvas
24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm.)
In a William Kent style out-set corner frame
ENGRAVED:
Robert Dodd (1748-1816)
‘Attack on the Danes before Copenhagen’; and ‘The Battle of Copenhagen’
handcoloured aquatints, published by R. Dodd, London, 1801
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Robert Dodd was one of the principal recorders of the naval side of the American War of Independence and of the French Revolutionary Wars. He not only painted
the actions but engraved and published over a hundred of them as well, mostly in aquatint.
He first exhibited at the Society of Artists in 1780, the same year as his younger brother, Ralph Dodd with whose work he is often confused. Both painted battle pieces
in a very similar manner, but Robert’s work has a far finer attention to detail, both technically accurate and meticulous. His finest work is considered to be ‘Lord Howe’s
Victory on June 1st, 1794’. Executed for the dining room of his local inn in Commercial Road, London, it was painted in situ as it was too large to be moved from his
studio. It is now at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.
His last exhibited work at the Royal Academy, London, was in 1809. He lived almost all of his life in Wapping where the great ships, docks and wharfs of London
were but a moment away.
The Battle of Copenhagen (2nd April 1801) was arguably an unnecessary action but secured both free access to the Baltic for British ships and an even greater reputation
for Admiral Lord Nelson.
In 1800 Russia, Prussia, Sweden and Denmark formed the League of Armed Neutrality, in response to the Royal Navy's seizure from neutral ships of cargoes deemed to
be bound for France, then under British blockade. This alliance was considered hostile to British interests and a fleet, commanded by Sir Hyde Parker (with Nelson as
his second-in-command) was dispatched in March 1801 to the Baltic, to prevent the various Northern fleets combining against Britain.
On 1st April the British found the Danish fleet ill-prepared but moored close to the shore in the approach to Copenhagen and protected by natural shoals and heavy
shore batteries. On 2nd April, with Hyde Parker in command of the rear-guard, Nelson took 10 ships forward and engaged the Danish fleet. The heated battle lasted
some seven hours with the Danes suffering the destruction of their fleet and some 6000 casualties compared to 900 on the British side. The occasion added to the myth
of Nelson's indomitable character by his refusal to obey Hyde Parker's signal “to leave off action” and by his retort “ I have a right to be blind sometimes” and, with his
telescope fixed to his blind (right) eye, “I really do not see the signal”. The day was ended by truce, followed by an indeterminate armistice. The British secured the
neutralisation of the Danish fleet and unopposed access to the Baltic and an end to hostilities with the League following the Tsar's assassination.
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10. Charles Martin powell (1775-1824)
A Dutch small ship and a two-decker in coastal waters
oil on panel
signed ‘Powell’ verso
6 ½ x 9 ½ in. (16.5 x 24.1 cm.)
Powell was a self-taught artist who was born in Chichester and an active sailor. He was inspired by the Dutch tradition of
maritime ship portraiture, but his palette is richer and his attention to detail impressive.
He exhibited work at the Royal Academy between 1807 and 1821 and at the British Institution between 1813 and 1821. He
appears to have died penniless (bankrupted by having eight children to support?) but with a high reputation. His works are
to be found today at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
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11. thomas goodwin (c. 1796)
‘A View In The Downs’
signed ‘T. Goodwin’ (lower left) and dated ‘June 18th 1796’ and inscribed as title
pencil, pen and watercolour
9¼ x 12 in. (23.5 x 30.5 cm.)
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12. pierre-Julien gilbert (1783-1860)
An English merchant brig en route to Brest
signed and inscribed ‘P Gilbert à Brest’ (lower left)
brown ink and brown wash
13 ¾ x 20 ¾ in. (33.7 x 52.8 cm.)
PROVENANCE
Richard Geppert
Gilbert was a native of Brest who specialised in paintings of naval combat. He was a pupil of Nicolas Marie Ozanne and
Louis-Philippe Crépin. He became professor of painting at the L’Ecôle de la Marine Royale de Brest, in 1816 and exhibited at
the Paris Salon from 1822 to 1859. In recognition of his skills, he was invited by the French naval authorities to act as official
artist to the Algerian expedition of 1830.
His work has a truly fine polished finish with an impressive sense of accuracy. In 1833 King Louis-Philippe appointed him
Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur
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13. thomas rowlandson (1756-1827)
The Royal Artillery on the Move
signed, inscribed and dated, lower left, ‘Rowlandson/1803’
inscribed ‘The Baggage Train’
pen and grey ink and watercolour over pencil heightened with touches of bodycolour
6 ¾ x 10in. (17 x 25.5 cm.)
PROVENANCE:
with Arthur Ackerman, London
Rowlandson was the son of a bankrupt wool and silk merchant who entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1772. He became
probably our finest caricaturist, watercolourist, draughtsman and engraver of the late 18th and early 19th Centuries. Although
he is commonly thought of as a satirist, most of his drawings are gently humorous, and in some cases objective records of
urban and rustic life.
However his talents are more varied than is sometimes realised. His maritime views and extensive landscapes combine a
delightful touch of wit and harmony. They are characterized by an abundance of picaresque incidents, whether robust or
sentimental, and have much in common with the novels of Laurence Sterne and Henry Fielding, which Rowlandson illustrated
in 1808 and 1809.
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14. thomas rowlandson (1756 – 1827)
Army and Navy combined, in recuperation at King’s School, Canterbury
pencil, pen and ink and watercolour
6 x 10 in. (15.3 x 25.4 cm.)
Please see catalogue number 13 for the biography of this artist
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15. thomas rowlandson (1756-1827)
Low Tide Greenwich
pencil, pen, brown ink and watercolour on laid paper
9 ½ x 12 in. (24 x 30.5 cm.)
EXHIBITED:
The Leger Galleries, London, December, 1985
Please see catalogue number 13 for the biography of this artist
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16. european school (c.1810)
The Characters of War
numbered
pencil, pen, watercolour and bodycolour
9 ¾ x 7 ½ in. (24.5 x 19 cm.)
A set of 12
(12)
The group of twelve watercolours depicts various passers-by, civilian, military and religious, observed during a visit to the
Iberian Peninsula. It has not proven possible, so far at least, to identify the artist who observed and recorded with such
humour this cast of characters who date from the period of the Peninsular War (1807 to 1814). The clothing and demeanour,
a confection of Northern and Southern European fashion, as well as a mix of military and civilian style, suggest war-time,
rather than peace-time, conditions. It is our view that the firm and confident style and execution of the watercolours point
to a French or British artist, perhaps a civilian who accompanied one or other of the invading armies or to the hand of a
gifted amateur artist within the opposing armies.
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17. Cadet alfred wintle (c.1801)
Chart of Santarém, Portugal, with two topographical views of the Tagus and Santarém
signed 'drawn by Gent Cadet Alfred Wintle first Class' (lower right) and inscribed 'Position/of/Santarem/From a Military
Survey/By the Officers of Royal French Engineers/In his Britannic Majesties Service' (upper left) and further inscribed
'Santarem from the Tagus' (upper right).
pen and black ink and watercolour
18 x 15 ¾ in. (45.7 x 40 cm.)
Nothing is known about Alfred Wintle but the ‘Royal French Engineers’ comprised émigrés who had left France during the
Revolutionary period, had chosen not to return and had formed a regiment of volunteers to participate in the campaigns
alongside the British against the Revolutionary armies. In 1801, the French, then allied to Spain, issued an ultimatum to Portugal
to break its links with Britain, links which went back to the still valid treaty of 1386, and to close its ports to British ships.
This the Portuguese declined to do and invasion followed swiftly. It appears that Britain may have sent informal assistance
such as the ‘Royal French Engineers’ but to no avail, as the Portuguese were forced to capitulate shortly after the invasion.
Britain, of course, was to fight formally in the Iberian Peninsula (1807 to 1814) following first the invasion of Portugal by
Marshal Junot and the subsequent replacement of the Spanish Bourbon king by Joseph Napoleon in 1808.
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18. ange-Joseph antoine roux (1765-1835)
A collection of figure and maritime studies painted near Marseille, at Pointe d’Endoume, a short distance south-west of the
Old Port of Marseille, overlooking the Château d’If, where the Roux family had a cottage
all variously inscribed
pencil, pen and watercolour
7 x 10 in. (18 x 25.5 cm.) landscape and portrait shaped, and smaller
A collection of 16 for sale as a group or individually (16)
Ange-Joseph Antoine Roux, known as Antoine, was one of the finest French ship portraitists in watercolour of the late 18th
and early 19th Centuries. He inherited his father Joseph’s renowned ship chandlery business located on the quay, at Reboul’s
corner, in Marseilles, between Fort Saint Jean and the Hotel de Ville. The family held the post of Hydrographers and Engineers
to the King and its shop was one of a number of similar waterfront establishments catering to the professional requirements
of the itinerant mariners who called at Marseilles from foreign ports.
Here Antoine employed his sons to produce a stream of high-quality ship portraits for the captains and masters of visiting vessels,
particularly American, as they passed through on their way east or west. Marseilles at that time was one of the most important
ports in Europe, especially after the American War of Independence, when peace led to an enormous expansion of trade.
Antoine’s natural pictorial gifts, honed at a young age, together with his own curiosity, can be admired in these charming
and vivid watercolours which formed originally a sketch book. The Roux family had a small house, or “my hovel”, as Roux
called it, on the Pointe d’Endoume, a short distance south-west of the Old Port of Marseilles and overlooking the Chateau
d’If in the bay. Many of these charming studies were probably executed here.
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In 1883, the writer, Louis Brès, of ‘Ships and Shipping: A Collection of Pictures Including Many American Vessels Painted by Antoine
Roux and his Sons’ wrote, “Antoine Roux was the creator in France of a new kind of painting – the ship portrait – a style somewhat
neglected today, but which had, during more than half a century, a very great vogue in our seaports. Who does not recall having seen
in the counting houses of our ship-owners, those frames in which was represented in watercolours with a minute fidelity and a
remarkable truthfulness of appearance, some vessel of commerce, a three-master, a brig, a schooner, running off, all sail set, underneath
it, a black band on which stood out in beautiful white letters the name of the ship, that of the captain and that of the owner. The
most remarkable of these portraits were painted by members of the Roux family”.
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19. lt. Col. Basil Jackson (1795-1889)
The Exile: Portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte, standing small, on St Helena with Longwood House beyond
inscribed beneath the mount, ‘Said to be very like him at that’
watercolour
8 x 6 in. (20 x 15 cm.)
with this portrait are a few press cuttings dating from 1911 until 1939, and a note initialled ‘C of K’ dated May, 1917
PROVENANCE:
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La Comtesse Bertrand, wife of Général Comte Bertrand (1773-1844), from the artist.
Bertrand and his family accompanied Napoleon to St. Helena. He himself had a distinguished military career under Napoleon having fought in numerous campaigns,
including those in Egypt, against the Austrians and Prussians and against the British thereafter. He took part in the battles of Austerlitz, Leipzig and the Waterloo
campaign. On his return from St. Helena he was pardoned by Louis XVIII and took up a career in politics. He was a member of the party which
collected Napoleon’s ashes from St. Helena for their reburial at Les Invalides in 1840.
Given to Captain Humphrey Senhouse in 1821 upon the Countess of Bertrand’s return to England in 1821, thence by descent to Mrs Pocklington Senhouse,
Netherhall, Cumberland
The Senhouse Family were important traders in Whitehaven in Cumbria in the 18th Century involved in privateering and the slave trade to West Africa and the
West Indies, where the family owned plantations.
After Waterloo Napoleon was transported on 'Billy Ruffian' (HMS Bellerophon) to the mid-Atlantic island of St Helena, so as to ensure that his distance from civilisation
would put an end to his imperial ambitions. This came indeed to pass and, already in ill health before his banishment, Napoleon died relatively young in 1821.
Basil Jackson, one of the young British officers guarding Napoleon at his home at Longwood House, captured his likeness on a number of occasions.
He was born in Glasgow the son of Major Basil Jackson of the Royal Wagon Train, who died on 10th September, 1849 at the age of ninety-two. He entered the
Royal Military College in 1808, obtained a commission in the Royal Staff Corps on 11 July, 1811, and was promoted lieutenant on 6th May, 1813. He was employed
in the Netherlands between 1814 and 1815, was present at Waterloo as deputy assistant quartermaster-general, and was afterwards sent to St. Helena from 1816
where he remained until 1819. He served in Canada and was employed in the construction of the Rideau Canal. He was promoted captain on 17 Sept. 1825, and
was given a half-pay majority on 7 Feb. 1834.
In February 1835 he was made assistant professor of fortification at the East India Company's college at Addiscombe. He was transferred in December, 1836, to
the assistant professorship of military surveying, and held that post until December, 1857, when he retired on a pension. He was made a lieutenant-colonel on 9th
November, 1840, and then sold out in 1847.
He lived first at Glewston Court, near Ross, Herefordshire, until September, 1874, and at Hillsborough, County Down, until he died on 23rd October, 1889. He
married, on 28th March, 1828, the daughter of Colonel George Muttlebury, C.B.
He published: 'Notes and Reminiscences of a Staff Officer', which contains an account of his time on the island; 'A Course of Military Surveying' (1838), which passed
through several editions, and was the text-book at Addiscombe; and finally (in conjunction with Captain C. R. Scott, also of the Royal Staff Corps) 'The Military
Life of the Duke of Wellington' (2 vols. 1840).
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20. Charles oldfield Bowles (1785-1862)
‘The Royal George Yacht at Holyhead, Aug. 10 1821’
inscribed as title
pencil and watercolour
8 ¼ x 12 ¾ in. (21 x 32.5 cm.)
In May, 1821 two steamers were employed by the ‘Steam Packet Company’ to sail from Holyhead to Howth. The mail was still carried in sailing
packets, and though the new company offered to contract to take the mail in their steam ships the post office, partly on advice from its captains,
continued to use the sailing packets. However, the greater reliability and versatility of the steam boats soon became apparent, and the post office,
after a trial run, ordered two of its own, the Lightning and the Meteor, which were put into service in June 1821.
In August of 1821 King George IV visited Holyhead on his way to Ireland. He arrived on 7 August, and after being greeted by the townsfolk,
he went to stay the night at Plas Newydd with the Marquis of Anglesey, in part to await news of Queen Caroline’s health, as it was thought
unwise to proceed to Ireland without awaiting events. Having heard that she was improving, he returned to sail the following day, but the winds
were contrary. On the ninth he was informed of the death of his estranged Queen, which was marked by the lowering of the masts of the
squadron. The winds remained contrary, so on the thirteenth he decided to take the steam packet across to Ireland, leaving the squadron at
Holyhead to follow when they could. He travelled on the Lightning, commanded by John Skinner, and occupied the journey in eating goose
pie and drinking whisky ‘ in which his Majesty took most abundantly, singing many joyous songs, and being in a state, on his arrival, to double
in number even the numbers of his gracious subjects assembled on the pier to receive him’[18]. A triumphal arch was erected on the pier. This
was replaced by the present arch on the pier, paid for by local subscription, and designed by Thomas Harrison of Chester, the architect also
responsible for the column commemorating the Marquis of Anglesey at Llanfairpwll, Anglesey.
Charles Oldfield Bowles, like his father, Oldfield Bowles (1739-1810), was a colonel of militia, He was an enthusiastic and accomplished amateur
painter whose sketchbooks relating to the King’s visit to Ireland, via Holyhead, can be found in the National Maritime Museum. He must have
been a member of his entourage.
He married The Hon. Elizabeth Montagu, daughter of Matthew Montagu, 4th Baron Rokeby and Elizabeth Charlton, on 9th April, 1815 at North
Aston, Oxfordshire.
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21a. henry warren, pnws (1794-1879)
Talavera’s Plain with a distant view of Talavera de la Reina, south-west of Madrid
extensively inscribed in pencil
pencil, pen and ink, watercolour and bodycolour
6 ½ x 9 ½ in. (16.5 x 24 cm.)
talaVera Canto 1, stanza XLI
Three hosts combine to offer sacrifice;
Three tongues prefer strange orisons on high;
Three gaudy standards flout the pale blue skies;
The shouts are Spain, France, Albion, Victory!
The foe, the victim, and the fond ally
That fights for all, but ever fights in vain,
Are met – as if at home they could not die To feed the crow on Talavera's plain,
And fertilise the field that each pretends to gain.
LITERATURE:
Lord Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, A Romaunt, (London, 1841), Illustration for the First Canto (verses XL and XLI),
Talavera’s Plain
ENGRAVED:
Edward Finden for Lord Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, A Romaunt, (London, 1841)
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Henry Warren, PNWS is best known as a water colourist and illustrator. He was born in London and studied under Joseph Nollekens, the sculptor,
and at the Royal Academy schools from 1818. He contributed a variety of landscape and genre oils, as well as watercolours, to Academy exhibitions
between 1823 and 1839 but, over time, he focussed on watercolour and illustration, with election to the New Society of Painters in Water Colour
in 1835. Within four years he was elected President, a post he occupied until 1873, when he stepped down owing to the severe deterioration in
his eye-sight. He exhibited also at the British Institution and at the Royal Society of British Artists, Suffolk Street, but, despite being labelled
by Christopher Wood in Victorian Painters as a painter of Arabian subjects, appears to have been happier contributing illustrations to works
of poetry (Byron, Wordsworth, Shakespeare) and scripture. He also wrote extensively about the techniques of drawing and watercolour.
21a
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21b. henry warren, pnws (1794-1879)
Monastic Zitsa
inscribed ‘Zitsa’
pencil, pen and ink, watercolour and bodycolour
8 ½ x 12 in. (21.5 x 30.5 cm.)
MonastIC ZItsa Canto II, stanza XLVIII
Monastic Zitsa! From thy shady brow,
Thou small, but favour'd spot of holy ground!
Where'er we gaze, around, above, below,
What rainbow tints, what magic charms are found!
Rock, river, forest, mountain, all abound,
And bluest skies that harmonise the whole;
Beneath, the distant torrent's rushing sound
Tells where the volumed cataract doth roll
Between the hanging rocks, that shock yet please the soul.
LITERATURE:
Lord Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage - A Romaunt, (London, 1841), Illustration from the Second Canto (verses XLVIII
and XLIX) Monastic Zitsa
ENGRAVED:
Edward Finden for Lord Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, A Romaunt, (London, 1841)
Please see catalogue number 21a for the biography of this artist
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21b
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21c. henry warren, pnws (1794-1879)
The Dance of the Palikars
extensively inscribed in pencil below the illustration and numbered ’II, LXXI’ top left
pencil, pen and ink, watercolour and bodycolour
8 ½ x 12 in. (21.5 x 30.5 cm.)
the danCe
of the
palIkars Canto II, stanzas LXXI & LXXII
On the smooth shore the night-fires brightly blazed,
The feast was done, the red wine circling fast,
And he that unawares had there gazed
With gaping wonderment had stared aghast;
For ere night's midmost, stillest hour was past,
The native revels of the troop began;
Each Palikar his sabre from him cast,
And bounding hand in hand, man link'd to man,
Yelling their uncouth dirge, long danced the kirtled clan.
Childe Harold at a little distance stood
And view'd, but not displeased, the revelrie
Nor hated harmless mirth, however rude:
In sooth, it was no vulgar sight to see
Their barbarous, yet their not indecent, glee;
And, as the flames along their faces gleam'd,
Their gestures nimble, dark eyes flashing free,
The long wild locks that to their girdles stream'd...
LITERATURE:
Lord Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage - A Romaunt, (London, 1841), Illustration for the
Second Canto (verses LXXI and LXXII) The Dance of the Palikars.
ENGRAVED:
Edward Finden for Lord Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, A Romaunt, (London, 1841)
Please see catalogue number 21a for the biography of this artist
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21c
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22. sir oswald walters Brierly, kt., r.w.s (1817-1894)
Meeting of the English and Russian Flags of Truce, off Sebastopol, during the Crimean War
signed lower left: ‘OW Brierly’ and inscribed on the original mount
‘MEETING OF ENGLISH AND RUSSIAN FLAGS OF TRUCE OFF SEBASTOPOL/Boat of H.M.S St JEAN D’ACRE LIEUT.
ALGERNON C.F.HENEAGE, R.N./receiving Sir John Campbell’s Sword sent out by the Russians under Flag of Truce/June 27th 1855’
pencil and watercolour heightened with bodycolour
9 ½ x 15 ½ in. (24.5 x 39.5 cm.)
LITERATURE:
‘The Beautiful Scenery and Chief Places of Interest throughout The Crimea from Paintings by Carlo Bossoli (52 prints) and Marine
and Coast Sketches of the Black Sea by Oswald Walters Brierly (13 prints)’, illustrated by Brierly with lithographs By Frederick
Jones, published, February 21st, 1856 by P & D. Colnaghi & Co.
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This magnificent watercolour is thought to have been engraved by the master himself. Sir Oswald was a distinguished and talented marine painter
whose many works were made more familiar by excellent lithographic reproduction and engraving. Born at Chester, the son of a doctor and an
amateur artist, he attended an art academy in Bloomsbury before proceeding to Plymouth to study naval architecture and rigging. Throughout
his career maritime ship portraiture was his love, and in 1841 he sailed for Australia and New Zealand where he was to spend the following
decade. During his lifetime he exhibited 208 pictures, mainly watercolours, at the various London Societies, (192 at the Old Water-Colour
Society) and also 11 Royal Academy paintings, 5 of which were of His Majesty’s ships. In 1854 he was a guest of Admiral Keppel during the
operations in the Baltic and in 1855 he accompanied him to the Black Sea. In 1867-68 he accompanied the Duke of Edinburgh on a round the
world voyage, and in 1868 he continued with the Prince and Princess of Wales on a tour of the Nile and the Black Sea.
In 1874 he became Marine Painter in Ordinary to the Queen and was knighted in 1885. He was her most trusted official marine painter,
owing to his attention to detail and to his accuracy, made manifest in the resultant finished work.
In 1872 he was elected a Member of the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours, and in 1881 he became Curator of the Painted Hall and
Greenwich Hospital collections.
There is a flamboyant, effortless quality about his work and a great sense of colour, which shines through the many lithographic
reproductions, engravings and book illustrations which are works of art in themselves.
In the present watercolour Lieutenant Algernon C.F. Heneage, R.N., can be seen receiving Sir John Campbell’s sword sent out by the
Russians under the Flag of Truce on June 27th, 1855. Lieutenant Heneage’s ship was H.M.S. St Jean D’Acre, a 199 ton 1st Rate Screw-ship,
which was launched at Plymouth in 1853 and broken up in 1875.
General Sir John Campbell (1807-1855), having earlier served in Burma, Canada and the West Indies, fought at the battles of Alma and
Inkerman. He was in command of the Fourth Division during their assault on the Great Redan on 18th June, 1855 and, having rushed out
of the trenches at the head of his men, was cut down immediately by enemy fire, described by the Dictionary of National Biography as
“courage amounting to rashness”.
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23. w. l. wall (c.1855)
Picket House Battery, The Siege of Sebastopol, circa 1855
pencil, watercolour and bodycolour
7 ½ x 14 in. (19 x 35.6 cm.)
The early, major battles of the Crimean War (Alma, Balaklava and Inkerman) all took place within a period of little more
than six weeks and the repulse of the Russians provided the British and French troops with the opportunity to take Sebastopol,
before the Russians could reinforce properly their defences. Sadly, the opportunity was foregone and the Allies proceeded
to invest the heights above Sebastopol. A series of fortified positions allowed the Allies to observe and bombard the city and
harbour. The Picket House served as observation post and housed a small battery. On 26th October, 1854 the Picket House
played a role in the action known as ‘Little Inkerman’, when 5000 troops under the command of Colonel Fedorov carried out
a surprise attack on the heavily-outnumbered soldiers of the 2nd Division under General Lacy Evans. Three companies of
the Royal Fusiliers under Major Sir Thomas Troubridge and one of the 2nd. Battalion, the Rifle Brigade, then on picket duty,
concentrated accurate fire on the attacking Russians and, after a hard-fought engagement, forced the Russians to retreat.
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24. lieutenant-general gaspard le Marchant tupper (British, 1826-1906)
‘Fort Catherine and Fort St. Nicholas’ and ‘View of Sebastopol, down the valley to the south of the Woronzoff Road’.
On the extreme right is the Picket House on the Road.
The former inscribed ‘Fort Nicholas / 192 guns’ and the latter ‘Valley of Shadow of Death / Picket House Woronzoff Road’ verso
alongside a pencil sketch of the building (a photocopy of this is attached, verso)
pencil, watercolour and bodycolour
the former 5 ½ x 10 in. (14 x 25.5cm)
the latter 6 x 10 in. (15.5 x 25cm) with a sketch of a Church, verso.
Framed as a pair (2)
PROVENANCE:
with the Albany Gallery, London.
Private collection
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During the siege and fall of Sebastopol (1855), Forts St. Nicholas and Catherine, along with, among others, Forts Konstantine, Alexander and
Starfort, stood guarding the entrance to the Harbour of Sebastopol. The port was ideally situated with its deep anchorages for ships, dockyards
and the location of the strong defences and batteries that protected the fortress city.
The Woronzoff Road divided in two, two great ravines, the Redan, and the Karabelnaia. It was named after the ravine over which it passed.
The Woronzoff-road ravine ran across the front of the English left attack, and between it and the defences of the town.
Gaspard Le Marchant Tupper was born in 1826 of an illustrious military family, a member of which founded the Royal Military College
at Woolwich and fought in the Peninsular War. Tupper was gazetted second lieutenant in the Royal Regiment of Artillery at the age of
nineteen in 1845. He served as Captain with distinction in the Crimean War, by taking part in the battles of Balaklava, of ‘Little Inkerman’
(26th October 1854) and the full battle of Inkerman on 5th November 1854 (where he was slightly wounded) as well as the siege and fall
of Sebastopol. He ended the war as Brevet-Major with a clutch of medals from the victorious powers. At the end of the war, Tupper’s leave
was cut short by a two-year posting in November 1856 to Bermuda. After his return to England various duties were allotted to Tupper,
which included service in Dublin, prior to a posting to India in August 1865. This was of short duration as he returned to England shortly
after being gazetted Lieutenant Colonel in February 1868. His travels appear to have come to an end but his military career seems to have
proceeded without obstacle; first Colonel, then Major General in command at Woolwich before rising finally to Lieutenant General in 1888.
In 1905, on the occasion of the Jubilee celebrations of the Crimean War, he was gazetted CB. Just one year late, in July 1906, at the age of
eighty, he died in London. Throughout his career he recorded, in watercolour and oil, a variety of the scenes he encountered on tour, some
of which are to be found in museums in the Bahamas, Nova Scotia and the United Kingdom.
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25. alfred Quesnay de Beaurepaire, called Beaurepaire (1830-1898)
Scenes from French Camp life in the Crimea
all signed and variously dated '1853' to '1855'
pencil and watercolour heightened with touches of bodycolour on blue-grey paper
7¼ x 11¼ in. (18.4 x 28.6 cm.); and smaller
a set four (4)
Beaurepaire was a novelist, painter and draftsman, born in Saumur in 1830. His father, Jean-Marie Quesnay was a descendant
of the economist François Quesnay, lawyer and judge in Saumur, was permitted to add Beaurepaire to his name in 1859.
Alfred Quesnay de Beaurepaire was the older brother of Jules Quesnay de Beaurepaire, the magistrate involved with the
Alfred Dreyfus Affair.
Quesnay de Beaurepaire was the pupil of the artists de Gigoux and de Besson and first exhibited at the Salon in 1861 under
his own name but adopted thereafter ‘A. Beaurepaire’ as his nom de plume. He exhibited military paintings at the Salon in
1874 and is known for some delicate bronzes which contrast with his more usual style when executing the military and horseracing scenes for which he is best known.. He was appointed drawing master at the Écôle Polytechnique in 1891.
His illustrations can be found in a number of works, including the famous The Fur Country by Jules Verne (1873) with Jules
Férat, written and produced mainly for Librairie de Firmin Didot frères, whilst other works can be found in museums at Auch
and Pontoise.
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not for sale
John leech (1817-1864)
‘Wellington stirring up the British Lion!!’
signed, inscribed and dated ‘Wellington stirring up the British
Lion / All right Old Boy I shall / be ready when I’m / wanted!
/ Punch 1848 / Punch (again)’ and signed with monogram and
with the emblem of the table lamp
pen and ink
10 ½ x 8 ½ in. (26.5 x 21.5 cm.)
Wellington had written a letter to The Times in which he
had declared that a consideration of the state of our National
Defences was necessary – 1848.
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