(AMERICAN REVOLUTION 1777) Historical depiction of a 1777 n

Sale 2473 - Lot 23

Price Realized: $ 406

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900

(AMERICAN REVOLUTION--1777.) Historical depiction of a 1777 naval engagement off Barbados. Watercolor on paper, 10 x 13 inches, signed with initials in lower left corner which may read "F.A."; toned, minor wear, repaired closed tear, laid down on modern board. Np, circa 1820-50

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This painting is captioned with a paraphrase from C.S. Gilbert's 1820 "Historical Survey of the County of Cornwall", page 174: "In the year of 1777, Captain William Kempthorne was opposed off the Island of Barbadoes in HM Packet Granville by three American privateers, 2 of whom were each of equal force to the Granville and lay alongside her in a raking position. After a desperate action in which the Captain received a severe wound in his head and lost the roof of his mouth, the enemy was compelled to shear off, and the Granville with her brave commander returned safe to England." Susan Elizabeth Gay in her 1903 book "Old Falmouth: The Story of the Town from the Days of the Killigrews" describes this "old watercolor" as "one of my early recollections" (page 120), implying that it was in her family's possession.