The European Art Sale Part I

The European Art Sale Part I

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 248. The Engagement between the H.M.S. Shannon and the U.S.S. Chesapeake, 1st June 1813.

Property from the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, New Brunswick

Montague Dawson

The Engagement between the H.M.S. Shannon and the U.S.S. Chesapeake, 1st June 1813

Auction Closed

January 27, 10:47 PM GMT

Estimate

200,000 - 300,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Property from the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, New Brunswick

Montague Dawson

British

1895 - 1973

The Engagement between the H.M.S. Shannon and the U.S.S. Chesapeake, 1st June 1813

signed Montague Dawson (lower left)


oil on canvas

canvas: 28½ by 45 in; 72.5 by 114.3 cm

framed: 34½ by 52 in.; 87.7 by 132 cm

Frost & Reed, Ltd., London (acquired from the artist December, 1946)
Col. Frederick Pope, New York (December, 1946)
Frost & Reed, Ltd., London (acquired from the above, October, 1951)
Dr. John Williamson (February, 1952)
Mrs. Mary Leslie Miller (sister of the above)
Continental Galleries of Fine Art, Montreal
The Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, New Brunswick (purchased with funds from Friends of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, 1960)
Canadian News and Views, "Friends of the Beaverbrook, Canadian Collector, January/February, 1981, vol. 16, no. 1, p. 44 (as The Engagement of the Chesapeake and the Shannon)

The battle between the American frigate, Chesapeake, and the British Shannon took place just outside Boston on June 1, 1813. Seventy of the Chesapeake's crew were killed and one hundred wounded as the ship was fired upon and boarded by the British. The Chesapeake was the first American frigate captured by the British in the 1812-1814 war and the battle ended a long string of American triumphs.


The painting was commissioned by Colonel Frederick Pope, of New York. One of at least four paintings by Dawson on this subject, this particular version shows the Shannon crossing the Chesapeake's bow so that the whole of the English broadside could pound the American ship, while the Chesapeake could only bring her bow cannons to bear in answer.