File:French Firerafts Attacking the British Fleet off Quebec, 28 June 1759 RMG BHC0393.tiff

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Summary

Samuel Scott: French Firerafts Attacking the British Fleet off Quebec, 28 June 1759  wikidata:Q50860824 reasonator:Q50860824
Artist
Samuel Scott  (1702–1772)  wikidata:Q2542057
 
Samuel Scott
Alternative names
Birth name: englischer Canaletto
Description British painter
Date of birth/death circa 1702
date QS:P,+1702-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902
12 October 1772
Location of birth/death London Bath
Work location
Authority file
creator QS:P170,Q2542057
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image of artwork listed in title parameter on this page
Title
French Firerafts Attacking the British Fleet off Quebec, 28 June 1759
Object type painting Edit this at Wikidata
Genre marine art Edit this at Wikidata
Description
English: An incident during the Seven Years War, 1756-63, between France and Britain. 1759 was a year of victories for Britain and on 26 June Admiral Sir Charles Saunders' powerful fleet, which had conveyed Major-General James Wolfe's land forces to Canada, anchored off the Ile d'Orleans on the St Lawrence River, below Quebec. A month after the fire-ship attack depicted in BHC0392, the French made a second bid to dislodge Saunders' fleet, which is the subject of this painting. About 100 fire-rafts were sent down but these fared no better than the earlier fire-ships and were towed safely aside by the boats of the fleet. On 13 September Wolfe's infantry were landed from boats below the Heights of Abraham and scaled them during the night to reach the plateau outside the city. There they defeated the French army of the Marquis de Montcalm in a set-piece battle of which both Wolfe and Montcalm were the leading casualties. On 18 September the city capitulated, marking the beginning of the end for the French colonies in North America. Within the year mainland Canada was completely in British hands.

In this view, which is the reverse of BHC0391, the fleet is seen from the north across the Ile d'Orleans, part of which forms the foreground of the right half of the painting. Beyond it are the boats of the fleet and the fire-rafts, the smoke of the latter blowing to the left, with Quebec in the extreme right background. The left foreground of the picture is taken up with the anchored British fleet in which Saunders' flagship, 'Stirling Castle', is in starboard-quarter view in the foreground just left of centre.

Scott belonged to the first generation of British marine painters, who worked in the tradition of the van de Veldes and the other Dutch artists who came to practice in London from the 1670s. His reputation chiefly rests on his topographical views of London but he was a very good marine painter, who accepted commissions like this and whose artistic and social skills eclipsed - at least in business terms- those of his slightly earlier contemporary Peter Monamy. He was notably averse to travelling by sea himself but produced many small drawings and watercolours to be incorporated later as details into his oils, such as men rowing and unloading boats, and often drew his ships from models.
Date 1767 Edit this at Wikidata
Medium oil on canvas Edit this at Wikidata
Dimensions painting: 1160 x 2150 mm; frame dimensions: 1465 mm x 2435 mm x 135 mm
institution QS:P195,Q7374509
Current location
Accession number
Notes It will need to be checked for object numbers and its condition activity updated
References
Source/Photographer http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/11885
Permission
(Reusing this file)

The original artefact or artwork has been assessed as public domain by age, and faithful reproductions of the two dimensional work are also public domain. No permission is required for reuse for any purpose.

The text of this image record has been derived from the Royal Museums Greenwich catalogue and image metadata. Individual data and facts such as date, author and title are not copyrightable, but reuse of longer descriptive text from the catalogue may not be considered fair use. Reuse of the text must be attributed to the "National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London" and a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-SA-3.0 license may apply if not rewritten. Refer to Royal Museums Greenwich copyright.
Identifier
InfoField
Acquisition Number: 1933-49
Caird Catalogue Number (CCAT): CC V1 (S), P13, 20
id number: BHC0393
Collection
InfoField
Oil paintings

Licensing

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Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current19:37, 25 September 2017Thumbnail for version as of 19:37, 25 September 20177,200 × 3,825 (78.79 MB)Royal Museums Greenwich Oil paintings (1767), http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/11885 #1389
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