Beschreibung:

DOMINIC SERRES R.A. (1719-1793) Ships of Admiral (Lord) Rodney's Fleet escorting the captured French flagship Ville de Paris, into Port Royal, Jamaica after the Battle of the Saintes, April 1782 signed and dated 'D. Serres 1788' (lower left) oil on canvas 39 x 60 in (99.1 x 152.3cm) Literature: Alan Russett, Dominic Serres RA, 1719-1793, War Artist to the Navy, Antique Collectors' Club, Woodbridge, 2001, pp. 76-77 and colour plate 26 (for another version of this work), and pp. 154-156. The Battle of the Saintes was one of the many naval engagements of the eighteenth century fought amongst the immensely valuable 'sugar' islands of the West Indies. Towards the end of the American War of Independence, by which time both France and Spain had allied themselves to the infant republic of the United States in the hope of territorial gain at England's expense, the French campaign in the Caribbean had already been alarmingly successful. When, in the spring of 1782, the French prepared to mount a major offensive against the island of Jamaica, Admiral Rodney realised that a regular fleet action was his only means of stopping them. The French fleet, under the Comte de Grasse, sailed from Fort Royal, Martinique, on 8th April; Rodney soon intercepted it and a partial engagement took place the following day. To begin with de Grasse had the advantage but lost it, and the battle quickly developed into a running fight lasting another three days. On the morning of 12th April, Rodney finally brought the French to action off Les Saintes, a group of small islands situated in the channel between Guadeloupe and Dominica. Initially adopting the traditional strategy, Rodney then astonished the French by piercing their line of battle in two places and throwing them into utter confusion. Before long their flagship, the 104-gun Ville de Paris, was surrounded and forced to surrender, and although de Grasse's second-in-command escaped with a small number of ships, it was nevertheless a decisive defeat for the French and saved the precious island of Jamaica from invasion. Following this extremely welcome victory, six months after General Cornwallis's humiliating surrender at Yorktown, Virginia, Rodney kept the bulk of the fleet near Guadaloupe to refit as well as to keep watch for French stragglers, and it was not until 18th April that he set sail for Jamaica. Arriving off Port Royal a few days later, Rodney's fleet escorted their prizes, numbering no less than seven captured French ships-of-the-line, including the magnificent Ville de Paris, a frigate and a sloop, into harbour where they were accorded a triumphant welcome. Three months later, with the War now over, Rodney left Port Royal for home and arrived in England to receive yet another hero's welcome, a peerage and the 'Thanks of Parliament'. Once back in England, Rodney soon became one of Dominic Serres's patrons and commissioned several works illustrative of his exploits in the West Indies, not least at the Saintes. However, the painting offered here is something of an enigma in that not only is it dated 1788 - six years after the event - but there is also another version (but smaller at 12 x 18ins; 30 x 46cms.) for no obvious reason at Ickworth House in Suffolk which is likewise dated 1788. Moreover, the painting offered here once had a companion work [of the Battle of the Saintes] which was sold at Christie's, London, in 2006, at which time the sale cataloguer suggested a possible provenance stretching back to John Calcraft the Younger (1765 -1831), a long serving Member of Parliament. However, as there is no apparent connection between Mr. Calcraft and either Lord Rodney or the Royal Navy in general, it is intriguing to speculate who else might have commissioned such a pair. In view of the prominence given to the ship's name Ardent in this work, a likely candidate must surely be Captain Richard Lucas of the Ardent, the only clearly named vessel depicted. Lucas, hitherto a lieutenant, had been appo