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Notes
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This painting relates to the ‘Voyages and Cruises of Commodore Walker’, first published in 1760 by an unidentified author but possibly an autobiographical narrative of the adventures of the successful English privateer captain George Walker (d.1777). It includes his cruise commanding the privateer ‘Boscawen’ – a captured French frigate originally called the ‘Medée’ – and her encounter with this convoy of eight merchantmen bound from Martinique to France. The French ships also carried privateering 'letters of marque' and the engagement, in which the English privateer 'Sheerness' was also involved, took place in the eastern Atlantic north-west of Cape Finisterre. The scene (engraved by Boydell in 1753) shows the ‘Boscawen’ in the middle ground, slightly out of the central axis, which is accentuated by the high build-up of clouds in the sky.
The composition’s low horizon is a legacy of the seventeenth-century Dutch tradition of seascape painting, which continued to influence British maritime art throughout the eighteenth century.
Title
Commodore Walker's Action: The Privateer 'Boscawen' Engaging a Fleet of French Ships, 23 May 1745
Date
c.1750
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
H 50.8 x W 80 cm
Accession number
BHC0362
Work type
Painting
National Maritime Museum
Romney Road, Greenwich, London, Greater London SE10 9NF England
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