Scale: 1:36. A contemporary full hull model of the French 60-gun, two-decker ship of the line ‘Vainqueur’ (active 1750). The model is decked, equipped and rigged with the sails set. The sails and rigging were repaired in 1927. Two photographs (unnumbered) in the department file show the model with a different arrangement of sails, a flag flying from the mizzen topgallant, and an unpainted hull.

The model was bought in Genoa as the ‘Vainqueur’ but is not thought to represent an actual ship – there was no corresponding vessel in that name of this period. Furthermore the beam of the model is too great for it to represent any ship built. The main difference between the French and British warships at this period lay in the style of decoration of the stern and the shape of the stern galleries. In the rigging the mastcaps differed from the English by being rounded on the upper side.