Nelson & His World

Well it looks like the colour of the number 4 flag going up has also changed from yellow and blue to white and red!

This looks like the original, sold in 1994: http://www.artnet.com/Artists/LotDetail ... FFE6546F87

And here is 'Lord Nelson returns to England'

Tony

You are doing brilliantly!

That's eight now I think.

I've still had no luck locating an image of "The First Meeting of Lady Hamilton and Lord Nelson" - either on the www or in any of my books.

It'll be there somewhere!!

MB

Three original Thomas Davidson paintings are listed in some old art auction catalogues in the archives of the National Gallery of Canada. According to these catalogues, it appears that at least 3 original Davidson paintings were sold into Canada on behalf of a Leslie W Lewis (Importer and Exporter), of 11 Bury St., St James, London England. Lewis was either the owner or the agent of the owners and/or estates in these sales. The two Canadian auction houses which Lewis used for these sales transactions are no longer in business.

(1) - “The Queen’s Shilling” - Exhibited at Royal Academy, Walter M Kearnes auction house, Montreal, 16-18 April 1942. Below is the illustration from the catalogue. Given the title used at the auction, the subject of painting could be post Nelson era, since Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837. For the Royal Marine uniforms in his painting, Davidson may have taken some inspiration from the Marine uniforms in the famous painting “Farewell to Nelson, Portsmouth, September 14th 1805” by his contemporary Andrew Carrick Gow. (or vice-versa). Definitely not the traditional navy press gang, however the potential volunteers shown sitting at the pub table could be destined for the Royal Navy and Nelson relied on volunteers. Do any of the members of this forum know when the phase “taking the Queen’s (or King’s) shilling” came to mean joining the service? Also, are any members aware of any specific details related to the exhibition of this painting at the RA which would provide some context for this interesting painting? Has it been seen publicly displayed since it was sold at auction in 1942?



(2) - “The Harlequin” - Ward Price auction house, Toronto, 22-25 September 1942. This painting is probably not Nelson related. The title implies that this painting is from Davidson’s pre-1894 period when the subject of his paintings often focused on medieval topics.

(3) - “The Evening before the Battle of Copenhagen” - Ex Royal Academy 1898, Walter W Kearnes auction house, Montreal, 2-3 April 1948. This catalogue entry includes the description: “The evening before the Battle of Copenhagen, Nelson sat down to table with Admiral Graves, second in command and Captains Foley, Hardy, Fremantle, Riou, Inman, Col Stewart and a few others ... Nelson drank to the success of the ensuing day.” This is the same painting which is being addressed in the discussion forum <Info on the “Ward Room of HMS Elephant” by Thomas Davidson>

During the second world war, in the catalogues, the stated context used by Leslie W Lewis for his selling the Davidson paintings and many other British and continental paintings, in Canada, was “... assembled from collections shipped from Great Britain ... Sold owing to war damage and liquidation, from important estates ...”. After the war, Lewis changed the context to: “Sold owing to liquidation from important estates ...” His November 1943 wartime auction in Montreal was considered newsworthy enough to be covered in the 2 November 1943 edition of the Montreal Gazette. See http://www.tinyurl.com/MtlGazette2Nov43

Davidson’s “Lady Hamilton’s first sight of Lord Nelson” (aka “First Meeting of Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton”) was also sold into Canada by Leslie W Lewis in about 1939. The auction catalogue has not yet been located, however a photograph of the painting from that circa 1939 sale has survived, and on the reverse is the rubber stamped “LESLIE LEWIS No ___ LONDON” with the number 1115 recorded within this stamp.

It appears that many paintings from Britain crossed the pond during and just after the war to be sold by Leslie W Lewis in Canada. The fact that he did much of this business during the Battle of the Atlantic is in itself quite amazing! Do any members of this forum have any details on the Leslie W Lewis operation during the war and afterwards? Research using the internet has yielded very few details. His company is no longer in business and perhaps it was taken over by another firm.

WD

Hi WD

That is some really fascinating information that you have shared with us.

I certainly would never have known that this business in art/antiques was carrying on through the dark days of WWII.

Are you specifically doing research on Thomas Davidson? I would be interested to know the background to your post.

I have done a search in the Times newspaper archive and unfortunately I can't see any mention of Leslie W Lewis in there.

Likewise Google Books which is always worth a look.

Tomorrow I may get the chance to look in some old London trade/telephone directories. I will check out any entries for Leslie W Lewis. They will most likely show nothing more than you already know - but who knows??!!

I will report back.

MB

Well - things never seem to be straightforward.

As promised I took a look in the old London directories to see if there was any information about Leslie W Lewis.

The simple fact is that I could not find a single mention of that business.

I checked out the alphabetical indexes and the Street Directories and absolutely nothing.

You will see from the scan below that the business at 11 Bury Street was indeed an art dealer but under the name Henry Alfred Sutch. This scan is from 1938 but HAS was there at least 10 years before and 30 years after that date.

I don't know if that helps in any way but it's all I could find.

Well, Leslie W Lewis most certainly is an intriguing chap, and his later career definitely warrants investigation - in about 1964 he went to prison in Canada for art fraud! See snippets here: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22le ... =bks&tbo=1

A little more on Leslie W Lewis in Toronto, and his role in 'The Great Canadian Art Fraud.' From the obituary of the arresting officer:

'By Carol COOPER, The Globe and Mail, Friday, June 10, 2005.

In November, 1962, Ontario Provincial Police officer Jim ERSKINE started on a new case. J. Russell HARPER, then curator of Canadian art at the National Gallery of Canada, had asked the force to investigate a flood of Canadian forgeries of the works of well-known artists, including the Group of Seven.

After a lot of dogged legwork, Mr. ERSKINE, appointed two years earlier as the Ontario Provincial Police's first head of its new anti-rackets squad, eventually cracked the case that came to be known as the Great Canadian Art Fraud. It counts as only one highlight of Mr. ERSKINE's distinguished 38-year career with the Ontario Provincial Police. As well, he saw a hostage-taking incident successfully resolved, oversaw emergency response at the Mississauga train derailment and ended his career as the Ontario Provincial Police's commissioner.

Mr. ERSKINE's break in the art-fraud came, according to a May, 1964, issue of Canadian Weekly, when a ruckus broke out at the Toronto art-auction house, Ward-Price. Some in attendance at a sale questioned the authenticity of Group of Seven works on offer. The scene led one purchaser of a work purportedly by Group of Seven artist J.E.H. MacDonald to take it to the Toronto Art Gallery, now the Art Gallery of Ontario, for authentication. When the purchase proved fake, the gallery informed Mr. ERSKINE, who immediately seized paintings and records from Ward-Price.

With the combined efforts of Mr. ERSKINE, artist A.J. CASSON and National Gallery conservator Dr. Nathan STOLOW, 91 paintings were confirmed as forgeries. The Ward-Price records showed that the fakes were sold on behalf of Leslie LEWIS, who operated a studio gallery at the back of Ward-Price. Mr. LEWIS had in turn obtained some of those works from another dealer, Neil SHARKEY.

Further investigation led to three painters, all of whom had created the works for other purposes and did not know their paintings were being passed off as being from more prominent artists. The two dealers pleaded guilty and were jailed.
A headline from a story about the fraud in an April, 1964, issue of Maclean's referred to Mr. ERSKINE as a "smart cop." As a result, Mr. ERSKINE came to be good Friends with some members of the Group of Seven, including A.J. CASSON, with whom he worked on the case. In addition, he was at Fred VARLEY's bedside at the artist's death and gained the confidence of A.Y. JACKSON. '

Congratulations to the esteemed members of this discussion forum for some very effective detective work in searching out some very interesting details on Leslie W Lewis, the person who sold the three Thomas Davidson paintings (... and other UK paintings) into Canada.

Lewis “most certainly is an intriguing chap” (as summarized in Tony’s 10 Dec posting), ... and I think that we can now also conclude that that he was also not a very honest chap.

Some more details of Leslie W Lewis’ career were recently found in the book “The Consummate Canadian, A Biography of Samuel Weir Q.C.”.

In addition to his serving time in a Canadian prison during the 1960s, (as discovered in Tony's and Jacqui’s 10 Dec postings), the Weir biography indicates that Lewis also served time in a US prison during the 1970s for art fraud.
The biography also mentions that Weir purchased some paintings from “from Leslie Lewis of 11 Bury Street, St. James, London, the man who emigrated to Toronto”.
In addition, the Weir biography describes some 1959 art dealings with Henry Alfred Sutch, the person whose business address was also at 11 Bury Street, (as discovered in Mark’s 9 Dec posting).

It does now appear likely that Leslie W. Lewis had an established business relationship with Henry A. Sutch, which probably started in London long before Lewis immigrated to Toronto.

A recent search of the London Gazette has discovered a couple of historical entries for Henry Alfred Sutch:

8 Jul 1921 entry states that a partnership between Lucy Arnold and Henry Alfred Sutch carrying on business as Fine Art Restorers at 47 Beauchamp-place, Brompton-road, London S.W. under the style or firm of ARNOLD AND SUTCH has been dissolved as of 22 Jun 1921. See http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/32384/pages/5510/page.pdf

13 Jun 1933 entry states that a partnership between Henry Alfred Sutch and Fredrick Christian Williams carrying on business as Picture Dealers at 23A Old Bond Street, under the style or firm of WILLIAMS & SUTCH has been dissolved as of 9 June 1933. See http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/33949/supplements/32/page.pdf

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WD

I randomly came across this in an ebook "The Vice-Admiral of the Blue" - is it the Davidson "First Meeting of Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton"?

The illustration posted by Vicki on 16 Mar 13 and the three other illustrations in the book “The Vice Admiral of the Blue” by Roland Molineux (1903) are by the American artists Troy and Margaret Kinney. At bottom left in their illustration is their joint signature “THE KINNEYS”. The Kinneys’ illustration captures the encounter of Rear Admiral (of the Blue) Nelson with Lady Hamilton, on board his flagship HMS Vanguard, upon his fleet's 22 September 1798 arrival in Naples Bay, after his victorious 1 August 1798 Battle of the Nile in Aboukir Bay.

The “Memoirs of Lady Hamilton” by Walter Sydney Sichel (1910) also described the event. The British fleet had anchored in Naples Bay. The Neapolitan royal yacht decked out with banners and emblems, with King Ferdinand IV, members of the royal court and Lord and Lady Hamilton on board, welcomed the triumphant British fleet. Nelson in his own words, in his famous letter to his wife Fanny, described the occasion:
"Alongside came my honoured friends: the scene in the boat was terribly affecting. Up flew her Ladyship, and exclaiming, ' O God! Is it possible?' she fell into my arm more dead than alive. Tears, however, soon set matters to rights; when alongside came the King. The scene was in its way as interesting. He took me by the hand, calling me his ' Deliverer and Preserver/ with every other expression of kindness. In short, all Naples calls me ' Nostro Liberatore." My greeting from the lower classes was truly affecting. I hope some day to have the pleasure of introducing you to Lady Hamilton; she is one of the very best women in this world, she is an honour to her sex. Her kindness, with Sir William's to me, is more than I can express. I am in their house, and I may now tell you it required all the kindness of my friends to set me up. Lady Hamilton intends writing to you. God bless you!"
(During this royal welcome, the Neapolitan royal yacht was commanded by Francesco Caracciolo. Only 9 months later, Lord Nelson convened a court marshal, onboard HMS Vanguard, of royalist Neapolitan officers to try Prince Admiral Caracciolo for treason. Caraccilo was hanged from the yardarm of his own flagship, the Neapolitan frigate Minerva, on 29 June 1799.)

The September 1798 royal welcome in Naples Bay is also touched upon in the “Nelson and the Hamiltons” by Jack Russell (1969) where it is recorded that Nelson “was in his best frock-coat with the star of the Bath on the breast and his gold medal glittering on the red sash”. We can see the best frock-coat and sash in the Kinneys’ illustration. (However in the Kinneys’ illustration, on Nelson’s hat is the diamond studded aigrette which he actually received some months later from the Sultan of Turkey for defeating the French Fleet at the Nile.)

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Three hours after the royal welcome aboard the Vanguard, the King returned ashore in his royal yacht to Naples to the thunder of the British guns firing a royal salute. Lord and Lady Hamilton also returned ashore with the King. Nelson would have been rowed ashore by his flagship’s boat crew. Lord Hamilton (the British Ambassador) and Lady Hamilton would have officially welcomed Rear Admiral Nelson when he stepped ashore. This would have been Nelson's first "truely affecting" occasion where he experienced the "greeting from the lower classes" of Naples. This event on the shoreline of Naples is the subject of Thomas Davidson’s 1886 painting “Lady Hamilton’s first sight of Lord Nelson”. Our vantage point is from within the group of Neapolitans welcoming "Nostro Liberatore" into Naples.

It is an interesting coincidence that both the Kinneys and Thomas Davidson chose to paint a picture of Lady Hamilton meeting Nelson in Naples, ... on that very same 22 September 1798 day. However, Davidson’s painting captures the beautiful Lady Hamilton in a more controlled ... but still in a concerned state of mind as her eyes seem fixated on Nelson's missing right arm, while Nelson's attention is drawn towards the welcoming crowds. (This is the same painting discussed in Tony's 3 Sep 2010 “Lord Nelson returns to England” related posting and in my 6 Dec 2012 “Davidson paintings in Canada” related postings.)


"Lady Hamilton's first sight of Lord Nelson"

In his 1886 painting of this historic 1798 event on the Naples shoreline, Davidson took some inspiration from a collage of historical references and artwork of others. His effective composition of this collage (and perhaps in his application of some focused artistic license, or as pointed out by Mark in his 3 Sep 2010 posting "It seems that in Davidson's paintings the "romance" of the subject can sometimes allow the odd factual inaccuracy to creep in") makes the painting even more intriguing. Some of the elements in Davidson's intriguing collage are discussed below.

It does seem quite obvious that Davidson took some inspiration from the 1790s period portraits and "attitudes" by George Romney of the beautiful Lady Hamilton. An example of one of Romney’s many portraits of Lady Hamilton where one can observe similarities in her facial features as recorded by Romney and later by Davidson, is in the National Portrait Gallery http://www.npgprints.com/image.php?imgref=2855.

In his depiction of Nelson, Davidson also appears to be taking some obvious inspiration from a portrait which was completed in 1800 by Lemuel Francis Abbot. (The Abbot portrait is the painting shown in the Greenwich Naval Gallery scene within Davidson’s 1894 painting “England’s Pride and Glory” which is discussed in Mark's 2 Sep 10 posting. An engraving made from the Abbot original “Portrait of The Right Hon Lord Nelson KB Vice Admiral of the Blue” can be viewed at http://www.jjhc.info/heathjames1834nelsonadmiral.htm.)
However, in Davidson’s painting, Nelson is wearing the undress uniform and epaulets (i.e. with a single star) of a Rear Admiral. (Epaulets were introduced by the Royal Navy in 1795. Nelson was promoted to Rear Admiral in February 1797 after Battle of Cape St. Vincent, however it is possible that Nelson may not yet have had the opportunity to acquire Rear Admiral's epaulets. Charles Grignion did a sketch of Nelson at Naples and his epaulettes in Grignion's sketch do not include the single star of a Rear Admiral. This sketch is included in the book "Nelson" by Oliver Warner (1975)).
On Nelson's hat, he is not yet wearing his favoured diamond studded aigrette, which is historically correct. He is not wearing his gold medal on a red sash, but is wearing the embroidered chivalry awards of Knight Commander of the Bath (KCB); Order of the Crescent; and the Order of Ferdinand and Merit on his left breast. (With the exception of the KCB; the two other awards were actually awarded after the September 1798 event at about the same time as when the commoner became “Lord” Nelson in recognition of his triumph at Aboukir Bay.)

In the left side of the painting in the background between and behind Lady Hamilton and Nelson there is a sailor (probably intended to be petty officer) of the Kingdom of Naples navy. He is wearing a striped gun shirt and he appears to be gripping a boatswain’s pipe (whistle) in his left hand and he is saluting Rear Admiral Nelson by removing his seaman's straw hat with his right hand (as was the naval custom during this period.).

The third-rate “ship of the line” anchored “Mediterranean mooring style” close up to the shore line of Naples and behind the young Midshipman would be Nelson’s flagship: HMS Vanguard. Davidson appears to have been significantly influenced by the image of Vanguard in the famous 1807 painting by Nicholas Pocock of the five fighting ships commanded by Nelson either as Captain or Flag Officer. (Prints of Pocock's painting "Nelson's Flagships at Anchor" are available on the Greenwich Museum web site http://prints.rmg.co.uk/art/522611/Nelsons_flagships_at_anchor . The Vanguard is the ship in the left foreground of Pocock's painting.) Davidson's depiction of the Vanguard is almost a mirror image (shifted from ship's larboard (now known as "port") aft quarter to starboard aft quarter) of the ship from that earlier painting. In addition, the members of the boat's crew in both paintings are in the same blue jacket seaman's rig with a Midshipman coxswain.

The billowing clouds above the harbour in Davidson's painting are very similar to those in the numerous coloured illustrations of the sky above Naples and above the active Mount Vesuvius as captured by the artist Pietro Fabris in Lord Hamilton’s 1776 book “Campi Phlegraei: Observations on the Volcanoes of the Two Sicilies”. (Lord Hamilton was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1776 when he published his book. His work is considered by many to be the basis of the modern science of volcanology.) The area around Naples was known as the Campi Phlegraei, or ‘flaming fields’, owing to the frequent and violent eruptions of Mount Vesuvius. The ash laden colourful skies and the Naples harbour scenes from Lord Hamilton’s popular book likely provided some inspiration to Davidson.

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Nelson remained ashore in Naples with the Hamiltons for only 23 days to recover from his own wounds and to ensure that his battered ships received needed repairs and provisions. Such an interlude ashore was most unusual for Nelson and it established the foundation for his historic love affair with Emma Hamilton.

These encounters in Naples, after the Battle of the Nile, between Lady Hamilton and Rear Admiral Nelson were not their first meetings. Five years earlier in September 1793, Lady Hamilton (age 28) met Horatio Nelson, (age 35 and at that time a Post-Captain of HMS Agamemnon a 64 gun third-rate ship of the line) for the first time in Naples. His ship’s arrival in Naples at that earlier time was due to the Anglo-Neapolitan treaty which had been negotiated by Lord Hamilton to maintain the Kingdom of Naples' allegiance during Britain's war against France.

Are any members of this forum aware of any paintings which captured the earlier 1793 encounters in Naples between Lady Hamilton and Captain Nelson?

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WD

Not much information is publicly available about Thomas Davidson (1842-1919) and his paintings.
However, I have located one paper written by Davidson and two papers about him which were written by his contemporaries while he was still an active artist. I have also reviewed a book, from that period, which provides details of the exhibition of some of his Nelson paintings at the Royal Academy of Arts.

Below is a summary of my analysis of the some of the documentation from that period, followed by some of my conclusions.

“The Work of the Royal Association in Aid of the Deaf and Dumb in London”, Proceedings of the World’s Congress of the Deaf and the Report of the Fourth Convention of the National Association of the Deaf, Chicago Illinois, 1893, Thomas Davidson

Davidson’s 1893 presentation to the US National Association of the Deaf provides insights into his being deaf and his active role in the development of the UK charitable organization now known as The Royal Association for Deaf People. He had joined the executive committee in 1877. (Sir Arthur Henderson Fairbairn, also deaf, was later on the same committee with Davidson. Sir Arthur is believed to have been the first owner of Davidson’s “The Evening before the Battle of Copenhagen”.)

“Thomas Davidson, the Deaf Scotch Artist”, The Ohio Chronicle, 30 March 1895, Ohio Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb. (Originally published in The British Deaf-Mute, and was also re-published as “Thomas Davidson” in the April 1895 issue of The Silent Worker, Trenton NJ.)

This 1895 article provides a short biographical history of the artist and some details of his interest in Nelson. Some extracts of interest to this forum are:

unknown author in The British Deaf Mute, and re-printed in US journals, wrote:
Thomas Davidson was born January 17th, 1842 in London.
In blood he is Scotch, his family having originally come from Kelso, Scotland.
...
... His first exhibit in the R.A. was in 1863, and in the intervening thirty-one years, he has exhibited there about twenty times.
...
His notable pictures may said to be: “Drink to me only with thine eyes,” ...”Riding to the Tournament,” “A Star in the East,” “Romans in Britain,” “Captive Britons in Rome,” “Nelson’s Last Signal at Trafalgar” and “Trafalgar”
...
... Mr. Davidson has, from 1863 to the present date, painted about 450 pictures ...
At the present time he has taken to painting incidents in the life and career of his favorite historical character, Lord Nelson. A charming engraving of his “Signal” picture has been lately published by Mr. Arthur Lucas of New Bond Street.
In this portraying of naval scenes Thomas Davidson may be said to have found his forte, for he paints out of a large fund of reserve thought and consideration, and spares no amount of pains and research to ensure the correctness of every detail of his intricate works.

At the time of the writing of this article, none of Davidson's Nelson related paintings had yet been exhibited at the Royal Academy. This implies that the original article in The British Deaf Mute was probably written and published in early 1894, before the 1894 exhibition of the "Trafalgar".

This article, when published in the Silent Worker, also included a photograph of Thomas Davidson.

“The Battle of the Nile was Fought 101 Years ago -- Nelson’s Career Stands Out Gloriously in the Canvases of Mr Thomas Davidson”, The Sketch, London, UK, 2 August 1899, Louisa Samson.

This 1899 article by the women’s suffrage activist and respected author Louisa Samson is of particular interest. She documents the sequence in which Davidson produced the first eight of his series of Lord Nelson related paintings.

Louisa Samson in The Sketch wrote:
Yesterday was the hundred and first anniversary of the Battle of the Nile, which placed Nelson for the first time in the ranks of the peerage, for on Nov, 6, 1798 he was created Baron Nelson of the Nile and of Burnham Thorpe, in his native county of Norfolk. As the years vanish, Nelson became increasingly our only hero, and at a time when Egypt is of so much import to two Great Powers who fought it all out a hundred-and-one years ago, Nelson was never of more interest.
No man living has done more to bring Nelson down to the notice of the man in the street than Mr. Thomas Davidson, who is represented in this year's Academy [1899 #944] by a striking picture, "The Burial of Admiral Drake at Sea". It was the dream of Mr. Davidson's boyhood to put the immortal story of Trafalgar on canvas. He read with avidity several books dealing with the life and times of Nelson, and to-day he is one of the best authorities on the historical incidents in the Nelson period. ...
... It was only a few years ago, however, that Mr. Davidson conceived the idea of painting a series of large pictures illustrating the most important and dramatic episodes in Nelson's career.
The first of these, a fine engraving of which was bought by the German Emperor on his visit [June 1891] to England, was entitled “Nelson’s Last Signal - England expects that Every Man will do His Duty”. Strange to say, this was actually the first time this important subject had ever been represented on canvas. ...
...
The second great picture of the series is called “Horatio Nelson’s First Footing in the Navy, Chatham 1771”. ... on board the Raisonnable ... This picture shows a couple of impressed men being brought on board, and a lieutenant in charge of the ship is having his attention drawn to the boy by an old sailor.


“Trafalgar -Nelson Mortally Wounded” the third of the series, attracted crowds around it at the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1894 [#418]. It represents Nelson, after receiving the fatal wound, being carried down the ladder, between the middle and lower decks, on the way to the cockpit.
...
The fourth scene is, perhaps, one of the grandest in the whole career of the great commander. The title is “Westminster Abbey or Victory - Nelson at the Battle of St. Vincent”. Commodore Nelson is boarding the Spanish San Josef, of one hundred and twelve guns.

...
The fifth picture, entitled “Nelson at the Battle of Copenhagen, 1801”, shows the hero, after four hours’ sanguinary fight, sealing a letter to the Crown Prince of Denmark. [exhibited Royal Academy 1897 #544]
...
The sixth scene depicts “The Battle of the Nile.” Nelsen was severely wounded in the head, and, to the astonishment of everyone, he appeared on the quarter-deck and gave orders that boats should be sent to the relief of the enemy. The Orient was on fire and blew up with a tremendous explosion.

...
“The Evening before the Battle of Copenhagen” is the seventh of the series, and was exhibited in last year’s [1898 #457] Royal Academy. The officers are at supper, and Nelson, in the presence of Admiral Graves, Captains Foley, Hardy, Fremantle, Riou, Colonel Stewart, and a few others, are drinking to the success of the ensuing day.

The series is not yet complete, as Mr. Davidson contemplates painting at least two other Nelson subjects. He was commissioned to do the frontispiece for Charles Beresford’s “Nelson and His Times”

The eighth of the series would be "On Hostile Ground" which was the frontispiece in Beresford's "Nelson and His Times". The first edition was Copyright 1897 however research indicates that it may have been printed later in 1898.

In addition to the images of four of Davidson's pre-1899 Nelson related paintings, Louisa Samson's 1899 article also also included photographs of the artist and his studio.

... ...

"The Royal Academy of Arts. A Complete Dictionary of Contributors and Their Work from its Foundation in 1769 to 1904", Voll. II Carroll to Dyer, Algernon Graves, Published 1905

As of 1904, Davidson had exhibited a total of 31 paintings at the Royal Academy. Below are the details for the three Nelson related paintings which were exhibited.

An April 1942 Canadian auction catalogue (see 9 Dec 2012 posting) states that the "The Queen's Shilling" by Thomas Davidson was exhibited at the Royal Academy. If this is the case, it was exhibited after 1904.

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Some Conclusions

Pre-1899 Paintings

Davidson's pre-1899 series of Nelson paintings (in chronological sequence in which they were painted) are:

#1 -- “Nelson’s Last Signal - England expects that Every Man will do His Duty” (aka "Nelson's Last Signal at Trafalgar", and "The Signal Before the Battle of Trafalgar")
#2 -- “Nelson’s first Footing In the Navy, Chatham 1771” (note: 5),
#3 -- "Trafalgar - Nelson Mortally Wounded" (Exhibited R.A. 1894, 148) (aka "Trafalgar", and "Death of Nelson") (note: 1)
#4 -- "Westminster Abbey or Victory - Nelson at the Battle of St. Vincent" (note: 1)
#5 -- "Nelson at the Battle of Copenhagen, 1801" (Exhibited R.A. 1897, 544) (aka "Nelson Sealing his Historic Message at Copenhagen")
#6 -- "The Battle of the Nile" (note: 1)
#7 -- "The Evening before the Battle of Copenhagen (Exhibited R.A. 1898, 457) (aka "Before Copenhagen: the Ward Room of HMS Elephant”) (notes: 3, 4)
#8 -- "On Hostile Ground" (aka "On Hostile Ground, The Landing of Nelson at Copenhagen after the Battle")

The "Lady Hamilton’s First Sight of Lord Nelson” (aka "The First Meeting of Lady Hamilton and Lord Nelson", “Lord Nelson Returns to England”, and “Lord Horatio Nelson returning from voyage”) is not included in Louisa Samson's 1899 listing of Davidson's Nelson related paintings. This painting depicts Lady Hamilton looking on while Nelson is stepping ashore on 22 September 1798 in Naples, after his victorious 1 August 1798 Battle of the Nile (see 17 Apr 2013 posting). The Greenwich Museum web site http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/147966.html and publicly available details of an October 2005 auction sale indicated that this painting was completed in 1886. If this earlier date is correct, it is strange that the "Lady Hamilton's First Sight of Lord Nelson" was not listed as Davidson's first Nelson painting in Louisa Samson's 1899 article in The Sketch and that it was not mentioned in the earlier 1894 article in The British Deaf Mute. It is even stranger that Davidson did not include this Battle of the Nile related painting in the list that he would have provided to Samson for her preparation of an article specifically related to the 101st anniversary of this major battle.
Davidson may have painted this artwork in 1886, however for reasons only known to the artist, he may have delayed making it available to the public until sometime after 1899.

Post-1899 Paintings

Davidson exceeded his own expectations of "painting at least two other Nelson subjects". In no particular order, the following (and perhaps more that we are not yet aware of) were painted (or released to the public) by Davidson likely during the 1899-1909 time-frame:

#9 –- “Lady Hamilton’s First Sight of Lord Nelson” (aka "The First Meeting of Lady Hamilton and Lord Nelson", “Lord Nelson Returns to England”, and “Lord Horatio Nelson returning from voyage”) (notes: 3, 4)
#10 –- “England’s Pride and Glory”
#11 –- “The King’s Shilling” (Exhibited R.A.) (aka “The Queen’s Shilling”) (notes: 3, 5)
#12 –- “The Pensioner's Story” (notes: 2, 5)
#13 –- “Nelson Coming on Deck” (Published in 'British Battles on Land and Sea', Cassell, London, c.1910) (note: 2)
#14 –- “Hoisting the Famous Signal” (not the same image as #1. Published in 'British Battles on Land and Sea', Cassell, London, c.1910) (note: 2)

Notes:

1 -- Davidson's pre-1899 paintings #3 "Trafalgar - Nelson Mortally Wounded", #4 "Westminster Abbey or Victory - Nelson at the Battle of St. Vincent" and #6 "The Battle of the Nile" are new to the list being maintained in this forum.
2 -- Davidson's post-1899 paintings #12 “The Pensioner's Story”, #13 “Nelson Coming on Deck” and #14 “Hoisting the Famous Signal" are new to the list being maintained in this forum.
3 -- Research indicates that #9 "Lady Hamilton's First Sight of Lord Nelson", #11 "The King's Shilling", and #7 "The Evening before the Battle of Copenhagen" were sold into Canada by Leslie W. Lewis (and his associate Henry Alfred Sutch, of Old & Modern Paintings, 11 Bury Street, London) in 1936, 1942 and 1948 respectively. (See 9 Dec 2012 posting)
4 -- Two Thomas Davidson paintings (#7 "The Evening before the Battle of Copenhagen and #9 “Lady Hamilton’s First Sight of Lord Nelson”) are listed, with images of the paintings, in the INTERPOL database of stolen artwork as having been stolen from a Canadian collection in 1979.
5 -- The subjects of the paintings #11 "The King's Shilling" and #12 "The Pensioner's Story" do not include an image of Nelson. The subjects are sailors who served and fought under Nelson. These two later paintings could be considered chronological bookends to Davidson's earlier #2 "Nelson's first Footing in the Navy" which includes "a couple of impressed men being brought on board" Nelson's first ship.

The Artist

Thomas Davidson was truly an amazing man and he was a very productive and appreciated artist in his own time. He overcame his handicaps of being deaf and mute. His main communications media became his paintings. Louisa Samson wrote "No man living has done more to bring Nelson down to the notice of the man in the street than Mr. Davidson". Through his advocacy and leadership within the organization now known as the The Royal Association for Deaf People, he was very dedicated to improving the lives of those with similar handicaps.

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WD