Sep 15, 2011 - Sale 2253

Sale 2253 - Lot 63

Unsold
Estimate: $ 5,000 - $ 7,500
"I HAVE NOT YET BEGUN TO FIGHT!" (AMERICAN REVOLUTION--1779.) Collet, John; artist. Paul Jones Shooting a Sailor who had Attempted to Strike his Colours in an Engagement. Hand-colored mezzotint, 14 1/2 x 10 1/2 inches; mount remnants on verso, two short marginal closed tears. London: Carrington Bowles, [1779]
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Additional Details

A vivid depiction of one of the most dramatic naval battles of the Revolution, with John Paul Jones (armed with a sword and no less than five pistols) executing a treasonous sailor under the stripes of a billowing American flag.
This is a British depiction of an incident from the Battle of Flamborough Head off the British coast, in which Jones and his converted merchant ship Bonhomme Richard defeated the better-armed HMS Serapis--the battle where Jones allegedly yelled "I have not yet begun to fight!" The British, depicting Jones as a tyrant, claimed that he had shot one of his own men as depicted in this mezzotint. No evidence survives to support this claim, but one of Jones's men did call across to the Serapis to ask for quarter, and by some reports Jones did strike him in the jaw with his pistol butt.
Other examples exist bearing the publication date 2 December 1779, not printed here. Shadwell 65.