[TRAFALGAR.]

Ever memorable battle off Cape Trafalgar: 21 October 1805. By authority.

London, Robert Laurie & James Whittle, 12 December 1805. 310 x 455 mm, aquatint and etching, with hand-colouring; some small discreet repairs. A diagram showing the British fleet approaching the Franco-Spanish squadron in two columns at the battle of Trafalgar. Included between the two British lines is an engraving of Nelson collapsing on the quarterdeck of the Victory having been hit by a bullet from the French Indomitable. The Spanish and African coasts are shown in the top left and right corners respectively.This engraving, issued soon after the Victory’s arrival at Portsmouth on 4 December, demonstrates how closely the naval victory at Trafalgar was mixed with sorrow for Nelson’s death in the public mind. As Nicholas Rodger notes: ‘At every level of society, amongst those who knew him personally and those who knew only his name, the news of Nelson’s death at Trafalgar was received as a personal grief . . . . The immortal hero was hailed as an undying inspiration to his countrymen. Very soon he was being painted at the moment he was struck down in compositions [such as this one by Laurie and Whittle] closely modelled on the deposition of Christ from the Cross. His funeral became a national act of celebration and mourning such as the death of kings had never aroused’ (Rodger, Command of the ocean p. 452).

• GBP 2,500.00 > other currencies
• ordernr.: T2904

• bookseller: Bernard Quaritch Ltd. (GREAT BRITAIN)