MONTAGUE DAWSON
British, 1895–1973

H.M.S. Tonnant

Signed MONTAGUE DAWSON
Oil on board
16 x 20 inches (40.6 x 50.8 cm)
Framed: 22¾ x 26¾ inches (58 x 68 cm)

The artist describes the subject of this work in an inscription on the reverse: The 74 gun ship "Tonnant" leaving with the fleet from Bermuda to bombard Washington in 1814 (during the war with America). The ships are here shown threading their way between the coral reefs and North Rock. The "Tonnant" was originally a French ship of the line, subsequently captured by Admiral Nelson at the Battle of the Nile in 1798 and employed in the Napoleonic Wars at the Battle of Trafalgar. Here the H.M.S. "Tonnant" serves as commander Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane's flagship, leading the British Fleet through Bermuda's North Rock channel.

Dawson painted a larger variant of this subject (oil on canvas, 34 x 44 inches), which is in the collection of the Bank of Bermuda.

Provenance
Frost & Reed Ltd., London (stock no. 44626)
Private Collection, Delaware (acquired from the above)
Thence by descent to the present owner

Literature
cf. L.G.G. Ramsey, Montague Dawson, R.S.M.A, F.R.S.A., Leigh-on-Sea, 1970, p. 53, no. 274, plate 51, for illustration of the larger version of this subject in the collection of the Bank of Bermuda

$65,000

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