John Singleton Copley was an Anglo-American painter, active in both colonial America and England. He was believed to be born in Boston, Province of Massachusetts Bay, to Richard and Mary Singleton Copley, both Anglo-Irish. After becoming well-established as a portrait painter of the wealthy in colonial New England, he moved to London in 1774, never returning to America. In London, he met considerable success as a portraitist for the next two decades, and also painted a number of large history paintings, which were innovative in their readiness to depict modern subjects and modern dress. His later years were less successful, and he died heavily in debt. He was father of John Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst and half-brother of Henry Pelham, the American painter, engraver, and cartographer.
Admiral Adam Duncan, 1st Viscount Duncan was a British admiral who defeated the Dutch fleet off Camperdown on 11 October 1797. This victory is considered one of the most significant actions in naval history.
The Battle of Camperdown was a major naval action fought on 11 October 1797, between the British North Sea Fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan and a Batavian Navy (Dutch) fleet under Vice-Admiral Jan de Winter. The battle, the most significant action between British and Dutch forces during the French Revolutionary Wars, resulted in a complete victory for the British, who captured eleven Dutch ships without losing any of their own.
Clan Haldane is a Lowland Scottish clan.
Watson and the Shark is an oil painting by the Anglo-American painter John Singleton Copley, depicting the rescue of the English boy Brook Watson from a shark attack in Havana, Cuba. Copley, then living in London, painted three versions, which are all now in the United States. The 1778 version is in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. A second, full-size 1778 replica is now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and a third, smaller, 1782 version with a more vertical composition is in the Detroit Institute of Arts.
The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar is the title of a 1791 oil-on-canvas painting by Boston-born American artist John Singleton Copley. It depicts the defeat of the floating batteries at Gibraltar during the Great Siege of Gibraltar. The Governor of Gibraltar, General George Augustus Eliott, is on horseback pointing to the rescue of the defeated Spanish sailors by the British.
Vice Admiral Sir William Johnstone Hope, GCB was a prominent and controversial British Royal Navy officer and politician in late eighteenth and early nineteenth century Britain, whose career experienced fleet actions, disputes with royalty, party politics and entry to both Russian and British orders of chivalry. A popular officer, Hope served with Nelson, Duncan and Lord Keith through several campaigns, making connections which enabled him to secure a lengthy political career after his retirement from the Royal Navy in 1804 due to ill-health. After 26 years in Parliament, Hope was largely inactive and instead served as a Lord of the Admiralty and commissioner of Greenwich Naval Hospital. Hope died in 1832 after 55 years of naval and political service and was buried in the family plot in Scotland.
Rear-Admiral Samuel Story was a Dutch naval officer. He commanded a Batavian Navy squadron which surrendered without a fight to the British Royal Navy during the Vlieter incident in 1799.
Samuel Drummond was a British painter, especially prolific in portrait and marine genre painting. His works are on display in the National Portrait Gallery, the National Maritime Museum and the Walker Art Gallery.
Johan Arnold Bloys van Treslong was a Dutch naval officer. He started his naval career in 1772, serving as a midshipman with the Admiralty of the Maze. He served in the Dutch States Navy on the North Sea, in the West Indies and in battle with Barbary pirates in the Mediterranean.
The Death of Major Peirson, 6 January 1781 is a large oil painting executed in 1783 by the Anglo-American artist John Singleton Copley. It depicts the death of Major Francis Peirson at the Battle of Jersey on 6 January 1781, part of the Anglo-French War (1778–1783).
The action of 12 May 1796 was a minor naval engagement during the French Revolutionary Wars between a squadron of British Royal Navy frigates and a frigate and four smaller ships of the Batavian Navy. The British squadron had been detached on the previous day from the British North Sea fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan, which was cruising off the Batavian fleet anchorage at the Texel, while the Batavian squadron was returning to the Netherlands from the Norwegian coast where it had been sheltering since suffering defeat at the action of 22 August 1795 the previous year. As the Batavian squadron neared the Dutch coast, the British squadron under Captain Lawrence Halstead attacked.
Staaten Generaal was a Dutch 74-gun third rate ship of the line which served in the Dutch States Navy and the Batavian Navy. The order to construct the ship was given by the Admiralty of the Meuse. The ship was commissioned in 1786.
Wassenaar was a Dutch 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the navy of the Dutch Republic and the Batavian Republic, and the Royal Navy. The order to construct the ship was given by the Admiralty of the Meuse. The ship was commissioned in 1781. In 1783/1784, the Wassenaar sailed to Batavia under Captain Gerardus Oorthuis.
The capitulation of Saldanha Bay was the surrender to the British of a Batavian expeditionary force sent to recapture the Dutch Cape Colony in 1796. In 1795, early in the War of the First Coalition, French troops overran the Dutch Republic which then became a French client state, the Batavian Republic. Great Britain was concerned by the threat that the Cape Colony posed to its trade routes to British India. It therefore sent an expeditionary force that landed at Simon's Town in June 1795 and forced the surrender of the colony in a short campaign. British Vice-Admiral Sir George Elphinstone, then reinforced the garrison and stationed a naval squadron at the Cape Colony to protect it.
The Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec, December 31, 1775 is an oil painting completed in 1786 by the American artist John Trumbull. It depicts American general Richard Montgomery at the Battle of Quebec during the invasion of Quebec. The painting is on view at the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut. It is the second in Trumbull's series of national historical paintings on the American Revolutionary War, the first being The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker's Hill, June 17, 1775.
A Boy with a Flying Squirrel (Henry Pelham), or Henry Pelham (Boy with a Squirrel), is a 1765 painting by the American-born painter John Singleton Copley. It depicts Copley's teenaged half-brother Henry Pelham with a pet flying squirrel, a creature commonly found in colonial American portraits as a symbol of the sitter's refinement. Painted while Copley was a Boston-based portraitist aspiring to be recognized by his European contemporaries, the work was brought to London for a 1766 exhibition. There, it was met with overall praise from artists like Joshua Reynolds, who nonetheless criticized Copley's minuteness. Later historians and critics assessed the painting as a pivotal work in both Copley's career and the history of American art. The work was featured in exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the National Gallery of Art. As of 2023, it is held by the former.
Portrait of Banastre Tarleton is a 1782 portrait painting by the English artist Sir Joshua Reynolds. It depicts the British army officer Banastre Tarleton against a background scene of battle, referring to his recent service in the American War of Independence. Tarleton is shown in the uniform of the British Legion, a unit of American Loyalist cavalry which he had served with before surrendering at the Siege of Yorktown in 1781. Reynolds, President of the Royal Academy, was of the country's leading portraitists.
The Portrait of Lord Mansfield is a 1783 portrait painting by the Anglo-American artist John Singleton Copley. It depicts the Scottish politician and lawyer William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield who was serving as Lord Chief Justice at the time. He is shown in his robes as a member of the House of Lords where he sat as the Earl of Mansfield.
Portrait of Thomas Gage is a 1768 portrait painting by the American artist John Singleton Copley depicting the British general Thomas Gage.
