Nelson and the Bear | |
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Artist | Richard Westall |
Year | 1809 |
Type | Oil on oak panel |
Dimensions | 36.8 cm× 55.8 cm(14.5 in× 22.0 in) |
Location | National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London |
Nelson and the Bear is an 1809 painting by the British artist Richard Westall. [1] It depicts an incident in 1773 involving Horatio Nelson, then a fifteen-year-old midshipman accompanying a polar expedition to try and find the Northwest Passage. Nelson and a friend were at one point attacked by a polar bear. Nelson's musket misfired and he reversed it to try and beat the bear off with the butt end. His life was likely saved when the ice split in two separating him from the animal. In the background is the bomb vessel HMS Carcass on which Nelson was a crewmember. One of the ship's guns is seen firing in an attempt to scare off the bear. [2] It omits the presence of Nelson's comrade, showing him confidently standing up to the bear alone. [3]
The painting was commissioned by John McArthur and an engraving made from it by John Landseer. It was then included as one of the illustrations in the two-volume book The Life of Lord Nelson (1809), one of the first biographies of Lord Horatio Nelson, which McArthur co-authored with James Stanier Clarke. [3] The painting is in the collection of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. [2]
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Nelson's Column is a monument, designed by Scottish architect Robert Mitchell and erected in 1809 in Place Jacques-Cartier, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, which is dedicated to the memory of Admiral Horatio Nelson, following his death at the Battle of Trafalgar. Subsequent to the destruction of Nelson's Pillar in Dublin (1808–1966), Montreal's pillar now stands as the second-oldest "Nelson's Column" in the world, after the Nelson Monument in Glasgow. It is also the city's oldest monument and is the oldest war monument in Canada.
Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy. His inspirational leadership, grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics brought about a number of decisive British naval victories during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest naval commanders in history. His victory on 21 October 1805 at the Battle of Trafalgar led to British naval supremacy over the next century and beyond.
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