File:HMS Expedition (ship, 1679) during Wager's Action off Cartagena, 28 May 1708 (cropped).jpg
Original file (620 × 993 pixels, file size: 37 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)
Captions
Summary
[edit]Samuel Scott: Wager's Action off Cartagena, 28 May 1708 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Artist |
artist QS:P170,Q2542057 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Title | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Object type |
painting object_type QS:P31,Q3305213 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Description |
detail |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Date |
before 1772 date QS:P571,+1772-00-00T00:00:00Z/7,P1326,+1772-00-00T00:00:00Z/9 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medium |
oil on canvas medium QS:P186,Q296955;P186,Q12321255,P518,Q861259 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dimensions |
height: 124.4 cm (48.9 in); width: 86.3 cm (33.9 in) dimensions QS:P2048,124.4U174728 dimensions QS:P2049,86.3U174728 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Collection |
institution QS:P195,Q1199924 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Current location | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Accession number |
BHC0348 (Royal Museums Greenwich) |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Notes |
The English painter Samuel Scott (1702-1772) specialised in marine painting and views of London. A strong influence of the art of Willem van de Velde the Younger can be detected, particularly in his early work. This painting refers to Commodore (later Admiral) Charles Wager’s assault on a Spanish treasure fleet off Cartagena in modern-day Colombia on 28 May 1708. Wager’s vessel, the ‘Expedition’, 70 guns, is shown in the centre attacking the Spanish flagship, the ‘San José’, 60 guns. The force of the gunfire seems to blow the Spanish vessel apart in a cloud of smoke and flames, reflected on the water. The other two English ships to the right are the ‘Kingston’, 60 guns, and ‘Portland’, 54 guns. However, Wager was not well supported by his squadron whose captains were court martialled for not having performed their duty, and duly dismissed from their posts (Campbell and Berkenhout, ‘Lives of the British Admirals…’, vol.3 (London, 1785), p.210). Whilst Wager obtained enough from the supporting Spanish ships to make him rich, the ‘San José’ and the bulk of the fleet’s gold, silver and emeralds sank several hundred feet to the seabed, earning her the unofficial title of “holy grail of shipwrecks”. This picture may have been the original used for the design of Wager’s monument in the north transept of Westminster Abbey, completed 1747 by the Flemish-born sculptor Peter Scheemakers, who is recorded in a sale catalogue of 1756 as owning a picture by “Mr Scot (sic)” of very nearly identical size (the present item is in fact two inches wider) entitled “The Taking the Galeons by Sir Charles Wager”. Wager’s death (24 May 1743) and the monument’s unveiling have therefore served as earliest and latest respective dates for its production. Scott seems to have used a drawing by van de Velde as a model for this composition and the ships are probably also based on older models rather than eyewitness accounts of the event. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
References | http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/11840.html | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source/Photographer | Source=David Cordingly et autres, Pirates, terror on the High Seas - from the Caribbean to the South China Sea | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Other versions |
|
Licensing
[edit]
This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason:
The official position taken by the Wikimedia Foundation is that "faithful reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works of art are public domain".
This photographic reproduction is therefore also considered to be in the public domain in the United States. In other jurisdictions, re-use of this content may be restricted; see Reuse of PD-Art photographs for details. |
File history
Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.
Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
current | 22:31, 18 March 2019 | 620 × 993 (37 KB) | Broichmore (talk | contribs) | File:Wager's Action off Cartagena, 28 May 1708.jpg cropped 69 % horizontally, 29 % vertically using CropTool with lossless mode. |
You cannot overwrite this file.
File usage on Commons
The following 4 pages use this file:
File usage on other wikis
The following other wikis use this file:
- Usage on en.wikipedia.org
- Usage on it.wikipedia.org
- Usage on ru.wikipedia.org
- Usage on www.wikidata.org