拍品专文
In 1773, King George III commissioned a series of perspective paintings which were to represent, in two views, an example from each class of His Majesty's warships. The work of creating the perspectives from Navy Board plans was divided between Joseph Williams, who drew the stern views, and John Binmer, who drew the bow views, with the actual paintings executed by Joseph Marshall. The task was completed on 25 August 1775, and the series of thirteen pairs of paintings, including the Royal George, was subsequently presented to the Science Museum in London by Queen Victoria in 1864.
Although certain questions remain unanswered, this painting of the bow view of the Royal George appears to be a 'second' version of the original royal commission and can be paired with a stern view of the same vessel currently in the national collection at Greenwich (see "Concise Catalogue of Oil Paintings in the National Maritime Museum", 1988, page 265, item BHC 3603). Since that collection also contains a very similar painting of the stern of the sixth rate H.M.S. Enterprise, 28 guns, it seems possible that a second 'set' may have been commissioned by a patron, so far unidentified, even though no other examples are known nor can it be ascertained whether this second group was ever completed. The background to the original 1773 set of paintings and those artists connected with it, together with suggestions as to the origins of the later pictures - including this view of the Royal George - was discussed journal of the Society for Nautical Research) of February 1953, pp. 58-60, a photocopy of which is sold with the lot.
The 100-gun First Rate Royal George was laid down in Woolwich Dockyard as the Royal Anne in January 1747 but renamed in January 1756, one month before she was launched on 18 February. Measured by her builder (J. Pownall) at 2,065 tons, she was 178 feet in length with a 52 foot beam, and mounted 28 guns on each of her three decks with a further 12 on her quarterdeck and 4 on the forecastle. Wth the Seven Years' War in its opening stages, she was commissioned as soon as she was completed and in action almost immediately. Acting as flagship to Admiral Sir Edward Hawke, she led the fleet into the dangerous shoals of Quiberon Bay on 20 Novermber 1759 where Hawke's daring was rewarded by a crushing defeat of the French in one of the most decisive anval battles of the eighteenth century. During the next war, she played a less prominent though still significant role at the engagement off Cape st. Vincent during the night of 16-17 January 1780 - the so-called 'Moonlight Battle' - when Admiral Lord Rodney roundly defeated the Spanish fleet, even though she was nearly lost in the severe storm which blew up later the same day.
Whilst the victory off Cape St. Vincent eased the Spanish blockade of Gibraltar, the siege nevertheless continued and in the summer of 1782, the Admiralty decided to concentrate a fleet at Spithead from whence it would be despatched to relieve the fortress which had been without supplies since April 1781. It was whilst this relief expedition was being assembled that the Royal George assumed her place in naval history by spectacularly sinking on 29 August in full view of the entire Channel Fleet. Anchored and taking on stores prior to departure, a party of dockyard plumbers came aboard to fit a new water pump and requested that the ship be heeled over to allow a small hole to be bored in her side. Captain Waghorn agreed and various banks of the ship's cannon were moved out of position in order to facilitate the manoeuvre. Suddenly and apparently without warning, water began pouring into the lower deck and, within minutes, the Royal George sank taking Rear-Admiral Kempenfelt, many of her crew and countless visitors, including women and children, with her; some estimates put the loss of life as high as 900 perosns although the actual toll could never be verified. The subsequent Court Martial blamed rotten timbers giving way under the stress of the heel as the most likely cause of the disaster; whatever the truth, it remains on of the most embarrassing losses in the long annals of the Royal Navy.
Although certain questions remain unanswered, this painting of the bow view of the Royal George appears to be a 'second' version of the original royal commission and can be paired with a stern view of the same vessel currently in the national collection at Greenwich (see "Concise Catalogue of Oil Paintings in the National Maritime Museum", 1988, page 265, item BHC 3603). Since that collection also contains a very similar painting of the stern of the sixth rate H.M.S. Enterprise, 28 guns, it seems possible that a second 'set' may have been commissioned by a patron, so far unidentified, even though no other examples are known nor can it be ascertained whether this second group was ever completed. The background to the original 1773 set of paintings and those artists connected with it, together with suggestions as to the origins of the later pictures - including this view of the Royal George - was discussed journal of the Society for Nautical Research) of February 1953, pp. 58-60, a photocopy of which is sold with the lot.
The 100-gun First Rate Royal George was laid down in Woolwich Dockyard as the Royal Anne in January 1747 but renamed in January 1756, one month before she was launched on 18 February. Measured by her builder (J. Pownall) at 2,065 tons, she was 178 feet in length with a 52 foot beam, and mounted 28 guns on each of her three decks with a further 12 on her quarterdeck and 4 on the forecastle. Wth the Seven Years' War in its opening stages, she was commissioned as soon as she was completed and in action almost immediately. Acting as flagship to Admiral Sir Edward Hawke, she led the fleet into the dangerous shoals of Quiberon Bay on 20 Novermber 1759 where Hawke's daring was rewarded by a crushing defeat of the French in one of the most decisive anval battles of the eighteenth century. During the next war, she played a less prominent though still significant role at the engagement off Cape st. Vincent during the night of 16-17 January 1780 - the so-called 'Moonlight Battle' - when Admiral Lord Rodney roundly defeated the Spanish fleet, even though she was nearly lost in the severe storm which blew up later the same day.
Whilst the victory off Cape St. Vincent eased the Spanish blockade of Gibraltar, the siege nevertheless continued and in the summer of 1782, the Admiralty decided to concentrate a fleet at Spithead from whence it would be despatched to relieve the fortress which had been without supplies since April 1781. It was whilst this relief expedition was being assembled that the Royal George assumed her place in naval history by spectacularly sinking on 29 August in full view of the entire Channel Fleet. Anchored and taking on stores prior to departure, a party of dockyard plumbers came aboard to fit a new water pump and requested that the ship be heeled over to allow a small hole to be bored in her side. Captain Waghorn agreed and various banks of the ship's cannon were moved out of position in order to facilitate the manoeuvre. Suddenly and apparently without warning, water began pouring into the lower deck and, within minutes, the Royal George sank taking Rear-Admiral Kempenfelt, many of her crew and countless visitors, including women and children, with her; some estimates put the loss of life as high as 900 perosns although the actual toll could never be verified. The subsequent Court Martial blamed rotten timbers giving way under the stress of the heel as the most likely cause of the disaster; whatever the truth, it remains on of the most embarrassing losses in the long annals of the Royal Navy.