Maritiem Digitaal
collectie zoeksyteem van de maritieme musea
The Capture of Havana, 1762: Landing Cannon and Stores, 30 June
| titel | The Capture of Havana, 1762: Landing Cannon and Stores, 30 June
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| inventarisnummer | BHC0411
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| collectie | Oil Paintings
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| museum | National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
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| datum | 18th century
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| omschrijving | A depiction of an episode from the last major operation of the Seven Years War, 1756–63. The Capture of Havana was part of England's offensive against Spain when she entered the war in support of France late in 1761. The British Government's response was immediately to plan large offensive amphibious operations against Spanish overseas possessions, particularly Havana, the capital of the western dominions and Manila, the capital in the east. Havana needed large forces for its capture and early in 1762 ships and troops were dispatched under Admiral Sir George Pocock and General the Earl of Albemarle. The force that descended on Cuba consisted of 22 ships of the line, four 50-gun ships, three 40-gunners, a dozen frigates and a dozen sloops and bomb vessels. In addition there were troopships, storeships, and hospital ships. Pocock took this great fleet of about 180 vessels from Jamaica and sailed through the dangerous Old Straits of Bahama to take Havana by surprise.
Serres’s painting shows the British fleet anchoring along the shore east of the entrance to Havana harbour. On the left, the wooded coastline forms a backdrop to the scene, stretching into the background towards the centre of the composition where the spectator can just make out the fortress of El Morro. The clouded sky allows for a dramatic play of light and shade on the water and the English vessels landing their troops and equipment in the foreground, adding a sense of action as well as physical depth to the picture space.
The painting is at least loosely related to a series of 12 prints published after drawings made by Lieutenant Philip Orsbridge, who had taken part in the action. Orsbridge chose Pierre Charles Canot and James Mason as engravers. Serres collaborated with him on the series, and all prints are inscribed “Serres pinxit”. Plate V of the print series shows the same action rendered in a similar composition.
Serres was a well-born Frenchman from Gascony who ran away to sea in merchant service rather than follow the family wish that he enter the Church. He probably arrived in England as a naval prisoner of war, took up painting and settled there. His early paintings show the influence of Brooking and Monamy's interpretations of Dutch art but he rapidly achieved recognition for his more documentary visual accounts of sea actions of the Seven Years War, 1756-63, becoming established as England's leading marine painter. His work was even more in demand in the 1770s and 1780s, recording the naval history of the American Revolutionary War. In 1768 Serres was a founder member of the Royal Academy and at the end of his life its librarian. A well-respected and sociable man, he was appointed Marine Painter to George III in 1780.
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| afmetingen | Painting: 1245 x 1854 mm; Overall Frame size : 1505 x 2120 mm
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