(BATTLE OF THE NILE) Weir James; Captain [attributed to] The

Sale 2352 - Lot 7

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Estimate: $ 20,000 - $ 30,000

AN UNPARALLELED SKETCH FROM LIFE OF THE BATTLE OF THE NILE (BATTLE OF THE NILE.) Weir, James; Captain [attributed to]. The French line as they appear'd at an Anchor on the 1st of August 1798. in the Wn. branch of the Nile. Watercolor battle scene from the perspective of Admiral Nelson's squadron as it approached Napoleon's fleet in Abu Qir Bay on the afternoon of 1 August 1798; manuscript notes on verso relating the French and British orders of battle and the fates of the French ships of the line. 270x425 mm, executed in ink and watercolor on laid paper watermarked "JWhatman"; four small edge tears, one with 15x15 mm loss, minor soiling, area of loss along bottom margin. Provenance: Admiral Sir Frederick Dalrymple-Hamilton (commander of HMS Rodney at the sinking of the Bismark); his daughter; thence to the current owner. [Egypt, 1798]

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the french fleet on the eve of its destruction. During the summer of 1798 Nelson chased Napoleon's marauding fleet across the Mediterranean. He finally caught the French just outside Alexandria, and as the sun set on the first of August, Nelson attacked them in Abu Qir Bay. His decisiveness proved a stroke of genius as the French were caught in a punishing pincer formation. At 10 o'clock, L'Orient, flagship of the French commander Admiral Brueys, was utterly destroyed in a munitions explosion. The rest of the line fell around her, and in the end all but two of the French ships were taken or destroyed. Nelson's victory launched him to the pinnacle of fame and likewise made a name for his Band of Brothers.

James Weir was a captain in the Royal Marines and was stationed aboard HMS Audacious at the Nile. Weir is thought to be the only artist to sketch from life at the Nile. (Tracy, Britannia's Palette, page 131.) Some of his sketches served as templates for a series of engravings of the battle. For a smaller Weir drawing completed a few months after the battle see lot 133, British Drawings and Watercolours, Sotheby's, 25 November 1999.

The verso manuscript has Leander and Culloden "astern", and Swiftsure and Alexander "in shore". In the middle of the sheet is a list of the French line as they appeared, names of admirals, and the status of the ships at the conclusion. One line relates the fate of the most important French ship involved in the battle: "Vice Admiral Brueys 126 L'Orient .... Burnt".