December 10-13, 2024 Firearms & Militaria
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/10/2024
UNKNOWN ARTIST, BRITISH SCHOOL. "Midshipman Orbell Oakes, circa 1815." Oil on canvas, 12 x 9 ½ inches, within carved and gilded frame. Orbell Oakes was born in 1800, the second son of the Orbell Ray Oakes, Esquire and Elizabeth Francis Plampin Oakes of Nowton Court, Suffolk. He entered the Royal Navy on 6 August 1813 as a Volunteer First Class and served aboard a ship commanded by his uncle, Captain Robert Plampin. On the second anniversary of his entry into naval service, he was appointed midshipman and, judging by the cut and pattern of the uniform and its wearer’s confident expression seen in this this portrait, it was probably painted in celebration of his rise from volunteer to midshipman in 1815. He received his lieutenant’s commission on 14 Oct. 1820 and was advanced to commander on 19 May 1828.