November 17, 2020 Early Arms & Militaria: Age of Exploration, Empire & Revolution
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/17/2020
Thomas Buttersworth. “The Battle of Trafalgar, October 21st. 1805.” Ink and watercolor wash on paper, 18 x 29 1/4 in., within a matted, giltwood frame, the backing panel of which retains a Royal Exchange Art Gallery (London) label: "Ex. collection Lord Harwood." Thomas Buttersworth (British, 1768–1842) was born on the Isle of Wight, and joined the Royal Navy in London in 1780. He began his painting career while serving and the accuracy of many of his Mediterranean works and his painting of the battle of St. Vincent would indicate that they were done from studies done on location. He left the Navy in 1800 and on his return to England, embarked on a successful career as a painter of marine scenes, executing ship portraits and important naval engagements on commission. These included his famous Battle of Trafalgar exhibited at the British Institution in 1825, for which this handsome watercolor version is a finished study, possibly also painted as a engraver’s copy for an intended print edition. In this view, Admiral Horatio Nelson’s flagship, the Victory, is depicted breaking through the Spanish and French lines on the left while HMS Temeraire engages the French ship Redoutable in the center. Buttersworth’s son James Edward (1817–1894) studied under his father and migrated to the United States in 1845, becoming one of the foremost ship portraitists of the mid-19th century. CONDITION: original hand-coloring with some fading, light uniform toning, some glue residue on edges of verso. JLK
Item Dimensions: 35x24"