A print representing the surrender of the Dutch fleet following the Battle of Camperdown, 11 October 1797. It shows the Dutch Vice-Admiral Jan Willem de Winter offering his sword to the British Admiral Adam Duncan on the deck of the latter’s flagship, the ‘Venerable’, 74 guns. This print was engraved by Daniel Orme after his own painting (see BHC3100 for a full description). It was issued with an accompanying key (see PAI7800). Orme was a miniaturist and engraver, who in 1792 became the impresario of a history painting and print-publishing business. Initially, he worked in collaboration with the American artist Mather Brown, who produced paintings of recent events which Orme then engraved and published, the pair dedicating themselves to the representation of military and naval subjects. Orme referred to his Holles Street exhibition room and print shop as the ‘British Naval and Military Gallery’ and continued to operate under this title after his partnership with Brown dissolved sometime around 1797, at which point Orme took on the role of painter as well as engraver and publisher. The representation of Duncan’s victory was one of his first solo projections. He started work on the painting in late 1797 (see PAD3447 for a prospectus for the work). This engraving was published on 20 August 1800, by which time the finished painting was on public display at Orme’s ‘British Naval and Military Gallery’. The previous year, Orme had sent an advanced copy of the print to de Winter. In a letter now held by National Museums Scotland, de Winter thanked Orme for ‘the very excellent and artful engraving you had the kindness to send me’ but suggested that the event depicted never took place. The Dutchman claimed that he had not presented his sword to Duncan because ‘my defence and conduct at the time of the action [gave] me the right to keep, still, my sword on my side’. He asserted that the British admiral ‘took my hand in coming on his board, wishing me luck to escape so well without any wound after such a terrible fire and engagement’. (Updated April 2019.)
Stored with PAH7915.