| The Death of Nelson (finished study) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Daniel Maclise |
| Year | 1859–64 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 98.5 cm× 353 cm(38.8 in× 139 in) |
| Location | Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool |
The Death of Nelson is a wall painting in the Royal Gallery of the Palace of Westminster by the Irish artist Daniel Maclise. A finished study for it, in the form of a painting, is in the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, Merseyside.
Maclise received the commission for two wall paintings in the Royal Gallery in 1857; these were to depict The Meeting of Wellington and Blücher after the Battle of Waterloo and The Death of Nelson. However Maclise found that creating the works in fresco would prove too difficult, and he resigned the commission. He then discovered the waterglass technique (infusing the surface with sodium silicate) and resumed the commission. Maclise started work on The Meeting of Wellington and Blücher in January 1860 and completed it during the winter of 1861. [1] He then submitted a sketch for The Death of Nelson to the Fine Arts Commission. However Prince Albert, the prime promoter of the commission, died in 1861 and the Commission lost some of its momentum. It was not until 1863 that Maclise received permission to continue with the scheme. [2] Between 1859 and 1864 Maclise created a plan for this picture; this was a painting that comprised a "finished study" for the work. This painting was purchased by the Walker Art Gallery in 1892 from the Art Union of London; the money for this was obtained from the Liverpool Naval Exhibition. [3] The wall paintings did not survive well; by 1869 the colours were fading. However modern critics continue to praise "their serious and sombre realism and their expressive power". [2]
The study, copied for the wall painting, was created in 1859–64 and is organised as a frieze, in a long narrow format. It shows the dying Admiral Nelson on the deck of HMS Victory , cradled in the arms of Captain Hardy, with other figures, including Dr Beatty, leaning over him. They are surrounded by members of the crew. Maclise took trouble over the accuracy of details in the picture; he interviewed survivors of the battle and researched the naval equipment in use at the time. [3] However the painting is not an accurate account of the event, because Nelson was quickly taken below decks, where he died; it is rather an idealisation of the event. [2] Included in the painting are two black people; this is likely to be historically accurate as two men from Africa were included in the crew of HMS Victory. At this time people of African descent were integrated with other members of the crew, although they tended to work in the lower ranks. One of the Africans is pointing towards the assassin of Nelson. [3]
The Maclise painting was engraved by Charles W. Sharpe in 1876 and published the Art Union of London. It sold widely around the British Empire. [4] The Nelson engraving was often sold with an engraving of the companion work by Maclise, "Wellington Meeting Blucher at the Battle of Waterloo".
In the 19th century the death of Nelson was a popular subject for artists. Other notable paintings of the event include The Death of Nelson, 21 October 1805 painted by Arthur William Devis in 1805 now found at National Maritime Museum, and The Death of Nelson painted by Benjamin West in 1806 and now at the Walker Art Gallery.
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, was an Anglo-Irish military officer and statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures in Britain during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, serving twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He is among the commanders who ended the Anglo-Mysore Wars when Tipu Sultan was killed in the fourth war in 1799 and among those who ended the Napoleonic Wars in a victory when the Seventh Coalition defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Graf (count), later elevated to Fürst (prince) von Wahlstatt, was a Prussian Generalfeldmarschall. He earned his greatest recognition after leading his army against Napoleon I at the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig in 1813 and the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
La Belle Alliance is an inn situated a few miles south of Brussels in Belgium, chiefly remembered for its significance in the aftermath of the Battle of Waterloo.
Daniel Maclise was an Irish history painter, literary and portrait painter, and illustrator, who worked for most of his life in London, England.
The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group.
HMS Temeraire was a 98-gun second-rate ship of the line of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. Launched in 1798, she served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, mostly on blockades or convoy escort duties. She fought only one fleet action, the Battle of Trafalgar, but became so well known for that action and her subsequent depictions in art and literature that she has been remembered as The Fighting Temeraire.
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The British Institution was a private 19th-century society in London formed to exhibit the works of living and dead artists; it was also known as the Pall Mall Picture Galleries or the British Gallery. Unlike the Royal Academy it admitted only connoisseurs, dominated by the nobility, rather than practising artists to its membership, which along with its conservative taste led to tensions with the British artists it was intended to encourage and support. In its gallery in Pall Mall the Institution held the world's first regular temporary exhibitions of Old Master paintings, which alternated with sale exhibitions of the work of living artists; both quickly established themselves as popular parts of the London social and artistic calendar. From 1807 prizes were given to artists and surplus funds were used to buy paintings for the nation. Although it continued to attract members and visitors, in 1867, when the lease on its quarters expired, instead of renewing the society wrapped up its affairs.
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson (1758–1805) was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy famous for his participation in the Napoleonic Wars, most notably in the Battle of Trafalgar, during which he was killed. He was responsible for several famous victories that helped to secure British control of the seas, both securing Britain from French invasion and frustrating Napoleon's imperial ambitions. After his death during his defeat of the combined French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar, there was a public outpouring of grief. Nelson was accorded a state funeral and was buried in St Paul's Cathedral.
The Death of Nelson, 21 October 1805 is an 1807 painting by Arthur William Devis portraying the death of Horatio Nelson at 16:30 on 21 October 1805, below decks on his flagship HMS Victory during the Battle of Trafalgar. It is now in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.
Andrew Carrick Gow was a British painter who painted scenes from British and European history as well as portraits and genre.
The Death of Nelson is a painting by the American artist Benjamin West dated 1806.
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Départment des Landes was a corvette of the French Navy, launched in 1804. She was damaged in 1814 and subsequently decommissioned. She was finally broken up around 1829-30.
The Death of Nelson may refer to any of the following paintings depicting the death of Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson:
Lumb Stocks was a British engraver. In a long career he produced engravings from paintings by notable artists of the day.
The Meeting of Wellington and Blücher after the Battle of Waterloo is a monumental wall painting by Irish painter Daniel Maclise, completed in 1861. It depicts the moment towards the end of the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815, when the commanders of the allied British and Prussian armies, the Duke of Wellington and Marshal Blücher, met near La Belle Alliance. Measuring 3.68 by 13.92 metres, it is displayed in the Royal Gallery at the Palace of Westminster.
Horatio was launched in 1800 at Liverpool. She made four voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. During two of these voyages she was captured and recaptured. Shortly before the British slave trade ended she left the slave trade and sailed between Britain and South America and as a West Indiaman. She was wrecked in 1817.
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, commanding the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars and serving twice as prime minister. He has frequently been depicted in various cultural media.