Edward William Cooke, R.A. 1811-1880

Sold  to William Finden in 1835 for 20 guineas;
Anonymous sale, Christie's, London, 25th February 1888, lot 60;
Anonymous sale, Christie's London, 26th March 1892, lot 25;
Richard Green, London;
Private Collection

The present work shows the Port Admiral receiving the salute as he is rowed to his Flagship, H.M.S. Victory.  Arguably the most famous battleship in English History she was designed by Sir Thomas Slade and built between 1759 and 1765 at Chatham dockyard.  She was named in 1760 to commemorate the Annus Mirabilis or ‘Year of Victories’ in 1759 when British forces had won the day at Quebec, Minden, Lagos and Quiberon Bay.  Launched on 7^th May 1765 she was Sir John Jervis’s flagship at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent in 1797 and Lord Nelson’s at the Battle of Trafalgar (see lot 78). 

The present work depicts her as Flagship to the Port Admiral a role she fulfilled from 1823 to 1836.  Various refits took place during the nineteenth century before full restoration in 1926.   Now in dry dock at Portsmouth she is, unsurprisingly, the Royal Navy’s oldest commissioned vessel.

The young Cooke recorded the day, aged sixteen, that he first set eyes on this famous vessel.
‘We next entered the Port (now comes the treat) that fine ship Victory in which our gallant Nelson was shot in the service of his country) extended her huge Sheer across the Harbour and contrasted well with the minor craft around…'
(Munday, op.cit., page 275)

The scale which Cooke refers to is faithfully rendered in the present work which employs masterful and accomplished perspective to convey not only the power and significence of the ship, but also the men who command her.