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A painting of Nelson's birthplace and family home, the parsonage at Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk. His father the Reverend Edmund Nelson, was rector there, and Nelson and his wife Frances also lived there, 1793–1787, while he was an unemployed half-pay captain. The Parsonage, originally two cottages later joined together, was set in thirty acres of meadow and chalk downs. It was demolished in 1802 following the death of the Reverend Edmund Nelson. This painting is an imaginary reconstruction of a scene of domestic harmony. It shows the old Parsonage House as a two-storied, L-shaped building. On the left is a tall, hooded front door, six square windows and climbing fruit-trees on the end wall. The smaller portion of the house, with casement and dormer windows, faces the viewer.
To emphasize the sanctity of hearth and home, it is surrounded by cultivated trees, shrubs and hollyhocks. In a scene of familial harmony, on the lawn on the right, a seated figure facing the viewer is dressed in the clothes of a country parson, with a small boy leaning against him. To their left an older boy in a suit with brass buttons, probably intended as young Nelson, waves a red flag over his right shoulder in a patriotic gesture. A young woman, probably Catherine Nelson, Edmund's wife, stands in the middle of the lawn holding the hands of a small child taking tentative steps. A small dog, signifying marital fidelity, jumps at their feet.
The painting was engraved for the first major biography of Nelson, ‘The Life of Admiral Lord Nelson, KB’, (1809) written by James Stanier Clarke and John McArthur. According to the illustration index to that work it was painted by ‘J. Pocock’ from an ‘exact drawing in possession of Earl Nelson’ although this is no longer known. ‘J’ and ‘I’ are often substituted for each other and the artist is probably therefore Nicholas Pocock’s painter son Isaac.
Title
The Rectory, Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk
Date
early 19th C
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
H 30.5 x W 40.6 cm
Accession number
BHC1772
Work type
Painting
National Maritime Museum
Romney Road, Greenwich, London, Greater London SE10 9NF England
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The Rectory, Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk National Maritime Museum -
Charles Edward Horn (1786–1849) The Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain -
Isaac Jacobs Bristol Museum & Art Gallery -
Cupid National Trust, Petworth House -
Sir Henry Bayly (1744–1812), 9th Baron Paget, Later 1st Earl of Uxbridge National Trust, Plas Newydd -
Nicholas Pocock (1740–1821) Bristol Museum & Art Gallery -
Sir Henry Rowley Bishop National Portrait Gallery, London - 1 more