Commemoration of the Four Great Naval Victories... 4. Victors of the Nile. Proof
A print commemorating the British victory over the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile (1–3 August 1798). The upper part of the part is an allegorical composition designed by the history painter Robert Smirke and engraved by William Bromley and John Landseer. Fame, kneeling on a cloud, hangs a portrait of Horatio Nelson, the commander-in-chief of the British fleet at the Battle of the Nile, on a palm tree. A sphinx and a river god, representing the Nile, recline beside the base of the tree. A naval battle is represented in the background, generating plumes of smoke. The lower part of the print takes the form of a fictive stone tablet, lettered at the top ‘Victors of the Nile’ and inset beneath with the portraits of the captains of Nelson’s fleet at the battle. Top row left-right: James Saumarez; Thomas Troubridge; Henry D’Esterre Darby; Thomas Louis; John Peyton; Alexander Ball; and Samuel Hood. Bottom row left-right: Davidge Gould; Thomas Foley; George Blagdon Westcott; Thomas Thompson; Benjamin Hallowell Carew; Ralph Willett Miller; and Edward Berry. The portraits were engraved by William Satchwell Leney. This print was published by the print-publisher Robert Bowyer in 1802–3 as part of a set of four double-elephant-sized engravings, grouped under the title ‘Commemoration of the Four Great Naval Victories’. These four prints commemorated the major British naval victories of the 1790s: the Glorious First of June (1 June 1794), Cape St Vincent (14 February 1797), Camperdown (11 October 1797) and the Nile (1–3 August 1798). All four followed the same format, combining an allegorical composition by Smirke with portrait medallions of the flag officers and captains of the victorious fleets. This copy of the print is bound with the other three prints from the set (see PAI4985, PAI4986 and PAI4987). (Updated April 2019).
Object Details
ID: | PAI4988 |
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Type: | |
Display location: | Not on display |
Creator: | Bromley, William; Lenney Smirke, Robert Bowyer, Robert Landseer, John |
Date made: | 1803 |
People: | British Admirals, British Admirals; British Captains, British Captains |
Credit: | National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London |
Measurements: | Sheet: 858 x 580 mm; Plate: 782 x 531 mm |