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Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD
Dimensions in centimetres of the frame
High (90 cm)
Wide (90 cm)
Depth (4 cm)
Marine Oil Painting The Battle Of Trafalgar October 21st 1805 Nelson’s Line About To Break Through
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€6.129,95
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- Experience the intensity and drama of the Battle of Trafalgar with this large stunning marine oil painting. On October 21st, 1805, Nelson's line was on the verge of breaking through, and this painting captures that pivotal moment with accuracy and detail. Add a touch of history and art to your home or office.
- Make a bold statement & really impress your guests or clients with this one historical fascinating greatest marine naval battle engagement masterpiece for your home or corporate office.
- Oil on board set in a fine decorative gilt original frame.
- A good proportion sized with the frame being 64 cm wide and 46.5cm high.
- Title ““The Battle Of Trafalgar October 21st 1805 Nelson’s Line About To Break Through The French Line Seen From The Bucentaure The Line Passed Between This Ship & The Redoutable, Victory Leads Temeraire, Neptune, Leviathan, Conqueror, Britannia, Ajax, Agamemnon “ by Geoff Shaw.
- Circa late 20th century 1970's.
- A delightful display size with the frame being 90 cm wide and 90cm high.
- Subject seascape marine view of the historical most important decisive naval battle of the Napoleonic era. Nelsons line of ships including HMS Victory who is seen at the front in front view engaging & breaking through the French line firing on the move opposing enemy ships with cannon broadsides blazing. Imposing view as seen from the French ship Bucentaure. With cloud burst of cannon gunfire smoke, various shot ridden sails sailing on relative choppy seas. Union Jack & Saint George ensign flags are hoisted on the bow and mid ship mast. Water is splashing right in front & around the British line from French cannon shot fire. Your imgaination is caught by the intensity in this scene, you can feel the anticipation & action. Above with large areas of calm blue sky shining through with scattered white clouds.
- Signed in the bottom corner by the artist Geoff Shaw.
- In our opinion this his finest marine painting work.
- Artist biography Geoff Shaw was a known British artist who was born in the early 20th century after WW1 in the year 1924. Geoff Shaw's paintings have been exhibited & sold at auctions around the world. Royal marines museum, National maritime museum Cornwall, Fleet Air Arm Museum, National Museum of the Royal Navy Portsmouth. Portsmouth Museum & Visitor Services.
- The Battle of Trafalgar was a naval engagement that took place on 21 October 1805 between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815). As part of Napoleon's plans to invade the United Kingdom, the French and Spanish fleets combined to take control of the English Channel and provide the Grande Armée safe passage. The allied fleet, under the command of the French admiral, Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, sailed from the port of Cádiz in the south of Spain on 18 October 1805. They encountered the British fleet under Lord Nelson, recently assembled to meet this threat, in the Atlantic Ocean along the southwest coast of Spain, off Cape Trafalgar.
- Nelson was outnumbered, with 27 British ships of the line to 33 allied ships including the largest warship in either fleet, the Spanish Santísima Trinidad. To address this imbalance, Nelson sailed his fleet directly at the allied battle line's flank, hoping to break the line into pieces. Villeneuve had worried that Nelson might attempt this tactic, but for various reasons, failed to prepare for it. The plan worked almost perfectly; Nelson's columns split the Franco-Spanish fleet in three, isolating the rear half from Villeneuve's flag aboard Bucentaure. The allied vanguard sailed off while it attempted to turn around, giving the British temporary superiority over the remainder of their fleet. In the ensuing fierce battle 20 allied ships were lost, while the British lost none.
- The offensive exposed the leading British ships to intense crossfire as they approached the Franco-Spanish lines. Nelson's own HMS Victory led the front column and was almost knocked out of action. Nelson was shot by a French musketeer during the battle, and died shortly before it ended. Villeneuve was captured along with his flagship Bucentaure. He attended Nelson's funeral while a captive on parole in Britain. The senior Spanish fleet officer, Admiral Federico Gravina, escaped with the surviving third of the Franco-Spanish fleet; he died five months later of wounds sustained during the battle. The victory confirmed British naval supremacy, and was achieved in part through Nelson's departure from prevailing naval tactical orthodoxy.
- Against Nelson, Vice-Admiral Villeneuve, sailing on his flagship Bucentaure, fielded 33 ships of the line, including some of the largest in the world at the time. The Spanish contributed four first-rates to the fleet – three of these ships, one at 130 guns (Santísima Trinidad) and two at 112 guns (Príncipe de Asturias, Santa Ana), were much larger than anything under Nelson's command. The fourth first-rate carried 100 guns. The fleet had six 80 gun third-rates, (four French and two Spanish), and one Spanish 64 gun third-rate. The remaining 22 third-rates were 74 gun vessels, of which 14 were French and eight Spanish. In total, the Spanish contributed 15 ships of the line and the French 18 along with some 30000 men and marines manning 2632 cannons. The fleet also included five 40 gun frigates and two 18 gun brigs, all French.
- The prevailing tactical orthodoxy at the time involved manoeuvring to approach the enemy fleet in a single line of battle and then engaging broadside in parallel lines. In previous times, fleets had usually engaged in a mixed mêlée of chaotic one-on-one battles. One reason for the development of the line of battle formation was to facilitate control of the fleet: if all the ships were in line, signalling during battle became possible. The line also allowed either side to disengage by breaking away in formation; if the opponent chose to continue, their line would be broken as well. This often led to inconclusive battles, or allowed the losing side to minimise its losses. Facing a numerically superior Franco-Spanish line, Nelson wanted to break it into a chaotic mêlée which would force the enemy to fight his well-trained crews ship to ship.
Nelson's solution was to cut the opposing line in three. - Approaching in two columns sailing perpendicular to the enemy's line, one towards the centre of the opposing line and one towards the trailing end, his ships would surround the middle third, and force them to fight to the end. Nelson hoped specifically to cut the line just in front of the French flagship, Bucentaure; the isolated ships in front of the break would not be able to see the flagship's signals, which he hoped would take them out of combat while they re-formed. This echoed the tactics used by Admiral Duncan at the Battle of Camperdown and Admiral Jervis at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, both in 1797.
His plan had three principal advantages: Firstly the British fleet would close with the Franco-Spanish as quickly as possible, preventing their escape. Second, it would quickly bring on a mêlée and frantic battle by breaking the Franco-Spanish line and inducing a series of individual ship-to-ship actions, in which the British knew they were likely to prevail. - Nelson knew that the superior seamanship, faster gunnery and better morale of his crews were great advantages. Third, it would bring a decisive concentration on the rear of the Franco-Spanish fleet. The ships in the van of the enemy fleet would have to turn back to support the rear, which would take a long time. Additionally, once the Franco-Spanish line had been broken, their ships would be relatively defenceless against powerful broadsides from the British fleet, and it would take them a long time to reposition to return fire.
- As the battle opened, the French and Spanish were in a ragged curved line headed north. As planned, the British fleet was approaching the Franco-Spanish line in two columns. Leading the northern, windward column in Victory was Nelson, while Collingwood in the 100-gun Royal Sovereign led the second, leeward, column. The two British columns approached from the west at nearly a right angle to the allied line. Nelson led his column into a feint toward the van of the Franco-Spanish fleet and then abruptly turned toward the actual point of attack. Collingwood altered the course of his column slightly so that the two lines converged at this line of attack. Just before his column engaged the allied forces, Collingwood said to his officers, "Now, gentlemen, let us do something today which the world may talk of hereafter." Because the winds were very light during the battle, all the ships were moving extremely slowly, and the foremost British ships were under heavy fire from several of the allied ships for almost an hour before their own guns could bear.
- At noon, Villeneuve sent the signal "engage the enemy", and Fougueux fired her first trial shot at Royal Sovereign. Royal Sovereign had all sails out and, having recently had her bottom cleaned, outran the rest of the British fleet. As she approached the allied line, she came under fire from Fougueux, Indomptable, San Justo, and San Leandro, before breaking the line just astern of Admiral Alava's flagship Spanish ship Santa Ana, into which she fired a devastating double-shotted raking broadside. On board Victory, Nelson pointed to Royal Sovereign and said, "See how that noble fellow Collingwood carries his ship into action!" At approximately the same moment, Collingwood remarked to his captain, Edward Rotheram, "What would Nelson give to be here?" The second ship in the British lee column, Belleisle, was engaged by Aigle, Achille, Neptune, and Fougueux; she was soon completely dismasted, unable to manoeuvre and largely unable to fight, as her sails blinded her batteries, but kept flying her flag for 45 minutes until the following British ships came to her rescue.
- For 40 minutes, Victory was under fire from Héros, Santísima Trinidad, Redoutable, and Neptune; although many shots went astray, others killed and wounded a number of her crew and shot her wheel away, so that she had to be steered from her tiller belowdecks, all before she could respond. At 12:45, Victory cut the enemy line between Villeneuve's flagship Bucentaure and Redoutable; she came close to Bucentaure with her guns loaded with double or treble shots each, and her 68-pounder carronades loaded with 500 musketballs, she unleashed a devastating treble-shotted raking broadside through Bucentaure's stern which killed and wounded some 200–400 men of the ship's 800-man complement and dismasted the ship. This volley of gunfire from the Victory immediately knocked the French Flagship out of action. Villeneuve thought that boarding would take place, and with the Eagle of his ship in hand, told his men, "I will throw it onto the enemy ship and we will take it back there!" However, Victory engaged the 74-gun Redoutable; Bucentaure was left to the next three ships of the British windward column: Temeraire, Conqueror, and HMS Neptune.
- Provenance Private marine collection from the vendor, high end auction label verso, Smithbrook Surrey & in collection of Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD.
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- Condition report.
- Offered in fine used condition.
- Painting surface is good overall condition, having various foxing stains, along with some scuff to the sky area, the frame has general wear, scuffs, chips & some losses in places commensurate with usage & age.
- Hanging thread on the back ready for immediate wall display.
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Dimensions in centimetres of the frame
High (90 cm)
Wide (90 cm)
Depth (4 cm)
