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Notes
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The Battle of Solebay was a popular theme in the genre of the historic seascape in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. In his composition Peter Monamy plays out the entire scope of the drama and action of the first battle of the Third Anglo-Dutch War, 1672–1674. On 28 May 1672, 98 ships of the Anglo-French fleet under James, Duke of York, and 75 ships under Admiral de Ruyter engaged in a fight both parties later claimed to have won. One Dutch success was the destruction of the 100-gun ‘Royal James’ by fireships, but their fleet finally had to withdraw. Monamy divides the picture space into a dark foreground zone, where sailors on two small rowing boats are locked in close combat shooting each other with pistols amidst floating wreckage, and a more theatrically lit background.
Peter Monamy was one of the first English artists to continue the tradition of Willem van de Velde the Younger’s marine painting into the eighteenth century and his work is representative of the early British school of maritime art, which still shows the overwhelming influence of the Dutch style. Monamy was self-taught, but may have worked in van de Velde’s studio in Greenwich.
Title
The Burning of HMS 'Royal James' at the Battle of Solebay, 28 May 1672
Date
18th C
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
H 89 x W 129.5 cm
Accession number
BHC0301
Work type
Painting
National Maritime Museum
Romney Road, Greenwich, London, Greater London SE10 9NF England
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