
Not on display
- Artist
- William Lionel Wyllie 1851–1931
- Medium
- Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions
- Support: 1524 × 2743 mm
frame: 1900 × 3300 × 120 mm - Collection
- Tate
- Acquisition
- Presented by the Trustees of the Chantrey Bequest 1899
- Reference
- N01697
Catalogue entry
N01697 THE BATTLE OF THE NILE 1899
Inscr. ‘W. L. Wyllie 1899’ b.l.
Canvas, 60×108 (152·5×274·5).
Chantrey Purchase from the artist 1899.
Exh: R.A., 1899 (558); R.A., Late Members, winter 1933 (597).
Lit: Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge, G.C.B., W. L. Wyllie, R.A., 1907, p.13 and repr.
Nelson's great victory in Aboukir Bay near the mouth of the Nile 1798 secured the Mediterranean for the British and the East from conquest by Napoleon. According to the note in Bridge, loc. cit.: ‘The picture represents the closing scene of the battle, lit up by the moon and the burning ships. The spectator is supposed to be looking down the line of ships to the south-east. On the left the French ship “Guerrier” is seen a complete wreck. Beyond is Nelson's flagship, the “Vanguard”, engaged with the “Spartiate” and “Aquilon”, while on the right the fight is still raging round the “Orient”, three-decker, which is a mass of flames. In the distance the “Culloden” is seen ashore on a reef. In the near foreground are the boats of the “Zealous” rowing to take possession of a prize.’
Wyllie also made an etching after this picture, which was published by Robert Dunthorne.
Published in:
Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, London 1964, II
Explore
- emotions, concepts and ideas(16,416)
-
- universal concepts(6,387)
-
- destruction(383)
- weapons(925)
- group(4,227)
- countries and continents(17,390)
-
- Egypt(98)
- Abu Qir Bay(2)
- transport: water(8,015)
-
- boat, rowing(688)
- ship, sailing(1,342)
- ship, warship(250)
- shipwreck(218)
You might like
-
Andrew Carrick Gow A Lost Cause: Flight of King James II after the Battle of the Boyne
1888 -
Briton Riviere Beyond Man’s Footsteps
exhibited 1894 -
William Lionel Wyllie Toil, Glitter, Grime and Wealth on a Flowing Tide
1883 -
Sir William Quiller Orchardson Napoleon on Board the Bellerophon
exhibited 1880 -
The Hon. John Collier The Last Voyage of Henry Hudson
exhibited 1881 -
John Henry Yeend King Milking Time
exhibited 1898 -
Henry William Banks Davis Approaching Night
1899 -
Harold Speed The Alcantara, Toledo, by Moonlight
1894 -
Charles Henry Malcolm Kerr Myself
exhibited 1899 -
Richard Caton Woodville General Wolfe Climbing the Heights of Abraham on the Morning of the Battle of Quebec
1906 -
Richard Caton Woodville Marshal Ney at Eylau
1913 -
Simeon Solomon The Moon and Sleep
1894 -
Richard Carline Portrait of Hilda Carline
1918 -
After Joseph Mallord William Turner The Fighting Téméraire, engraved by T.A. Prior
published 1886 -
After Joseph Mallord William Turner The Battle of Trafalgar, engraved by W. Miller
published 1859–61