The Battle of the Nile (Brown)

The Battle of the Nile
Artist	Mather Brown
Year	1825
Type	Oil on canvas, history painting
Dimensions	103.4 cm× 123.2 cm(40.7 in× 48.5 in)
Location	National Maritime Museum, London

The Battle of the Nile is an oil on canvas history painting by the American-British artist Mather Brown, from 1825. ^[1]

History and description

It depicts the Battle of the Nile fought in August 1798 which marked a victory for Britain's Royal Navy under Horatio Nelson over the French Republic, thereby stranding Napoleon Bonaparte and his army in Egypt. ^{[2] [3]}

Brown exhibited both this and a smaller oil sketch at the British Institution in 1825. This version was intended as a submission for a contest new paintings of battle of scene the new naval hall at Greenwich Hospital. His submission was not one of the four selected to be produced, with an alternative painting by George Arnald ultimately representing Nelson's victory at the Nile. Today Brown's painting is in the collection of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. ^[4]

References

1. Walker p.58
2. Evans p.170
3. Tracy p.140
4. https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-12002

Bibliography

• Evans, Dorinda. Mather Brown, Early American Artist in England. Wesleyan University Press, 1982
• Tracy, Nicholas. Britannia’s Palette: The Arts of Naval Victory. McGill-Queen's Press, 2007.
• Walker, Richard. The Nelson Portraits: An Iconography of Horatio, Viscount Nelson. Royal Naval Museum Publications, 1998