| The Battle of La Hogue | |
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| Artist | Benjamin West |
| Year | 1778 |
| Type | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 152.7 cm× 214 cm(60.1 in× 84 in) |
| Location | National Gallery of Art, Washington |
The Battle of La Houge is a 1778 painting by the Anglo-American artist Benjamin West depicting the 1692 Battle of La Hogue. [1] [2] Fought off the coast of Normandy the battle was decisive victory for the Royal Navy and its Dutch allies, thwarting an expected French invasion of England.
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West was a Pennsylvania-born artist who settled in England in the 1760s. He made his name with his 1770 epic painting The Death of General Wolfe . It was produced during the American Revolutionary War when Britain and France were again at war. West's The Battle of the Boyne , completed the same year, depicted a celebrated victory over French-Jacobite forces during same conflict. The two paintings were displayed at the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1780 at Somerset House, cementing his popularity. [3] He received a number of commissions from George III and later became the second President of the Royal Academy.
West condensed the complex events of the battle into a single dramatic composition using poetic licence. Particular emphasis is given to George Rooke on the left of the painting standing upright in a boat with his sword raised. In the background the French ship-of-the-line Soleil Royal is being run aground. The work is in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.. [4]