Sir David Wilkie, R.A.

With Hugh Blaker (1873-1936), London;

By whom anonymously sold, London, Christie's, 13 July 1934, lot 143;

There acquired by Thomas Agnew & Sons Ltd., London, no. 7871 (according to a label on the reverse);

From whom acquired by Miss L. Horwood, London;

Anonymous sale, London, Phillips, 18 June 1996, lot 39;

With Thomas Agnew & Sons Ltd., London;

There acquired by Richard L. Feigen in 1996.

An important moment in British naval history and in the lead-up to the Napoleonic Wars, the first Battle of Copenhagen was fought on 2 April 1801 between the British and the Danes as a response to an anti-British trade coalition between Russia, Prussia, Sweden and Denmark. After failed attempts at negotiation, Admiral Horatio Nelson embarked on the HMS Elephant and led twelve other British ships on the attack near Copenhagen. At the start of the battle, the Danish fleet responded with strong force and inflicted severe damage to several of the British ships, causing Admiral Hyde Parker, commander-in-chief, to send a signal of retreat, which Nelson, purposely putting his blind eye to his telescope, ignored and continued fighting. A few hours later, the tides had turned in favor of the British with most of the Danish ships being silenced. At this point, Nelson sent a letter to the Crown Prince of Denmark urging him to cease fire or else the British would set fire to the Danes' floating batteries and not save their crews. The truce proved instrumental in ending what was a very real threat to British power and the battle has gone down in history as one of Nelson's most crucial victories.

This sketch was most likely made in the early 1830s along with another sketch of the same subject that is now in the Ashmolean Museum.¹ Unlike the Ashmolean version, the present sketch conveys a sense of vibrancy and movement through the brushwork, which is done over visible lines of pencil, providing better insight into Wilkie's hand and final vision for the composition. As previously noted by Hamish Miles, an unfinished version of the same subject sold on the sixth day of the Wilkie sale in 1842 where it was described as a "canvas with a very slight crayon of Nelson sealing the letter of Copenhagen."

The precise reason why Wilkie painted this subject remains unclear. However, the artist had developed a friendship with E.H. Locker, Secretary of the Greenwich Hospital, who around this time was building the hospital's collection of marine pictures as a way to celebrate the British Navy. It stands to reason that either the present lot or the Ashmolean version could have been a gift from Wilkie to Locker in the hopes of securing a commission for the hospital. 

Related drawings are preserved in the British Museum² in London and in the Yale Center for British Art³ in New Haven.

This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the paintings of David Wilkie.

1. Inv. no. WA1970.115, oil on panel, 6 7/8 by 9 in.

2. Inv. no. 1907,0629.1, black chalk and grey and brown wash, 204 by 227 mm., https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1907-0629-1.

3. Inv. no. B2015.12, pen and brown ink, 2 3/4 by 5 1/4 in., https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:71496.