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| Collingwood's drawings http://www.nelsonandhisworld.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=13 |
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| Author: | Sylvia [ Sat Feb 23, 2008 12:28 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Collingwood's drawings |
In the book Collingwood Nelson’s own hero by Max Adams are two portraits shown, one he made of Nelson and another one of his wife. With the subscript that he may have made the one of his wife himself. It also says that he was a talented draughtsman. My question is are there more drawings/paintings known made by Collingwood? Sylvia |
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| Author: | tycho [ Sat Feb 23, 2008 1:30 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
Sylvia, I had a quick look on the NMM site to see if they had any other drawings by Collingwood, but apparently not. I must say his portrait of Nelson is not flattering! The NMM site quotes Mary Moutray, in whose company the portrait was made. 'When the laughter which this created was over, Captain Nelson said 'And now, Collingwood, in revenge, I will draw you in that queue of yours' [Nelson had no queue at the time, his hair having been cut short owing to fever and illness] in which he caught with considerable success the features of his friend'. It is actually a silhouette, and is, indeed, nicely drawn, and is often featured in biographies. I recently came across two sketches by Nelson, in Naish's 'Nelson's letters to his wife' - one of a new uniform epaulette that had to be ordered, and one of the chelengk that he had been given. They are roughly done, but have a confidence of execution that makes me wonder whether Nelson had innate but undeveloped artistic talent. On a wider issue, I am always intrigued at the artistic skill of many officers. I have a book 'Fleet Battle and Blockade' which has a great number of paintings, drawings and watercolours, some very fine indeed, made by officers in numerous parts of the world. Lt. Beechey, son of the famous portrait painter, William Beechey was a naval officer who made wonderful drawings and paintings on the expeditions he joined. I also have a copy of 'The Lady's Magazine' for November 1784 which has an article on Cook's Voyage to the Pacific Ocean with the promise in a future edition of a drawing of the 'Poybird' 'with which the Captain has favoured us'. I wonder whether Cook himself or another officer drew this. This tradition of artist/officers seems to continue to this day. I remember at the time of the Falklands War, an officer who had been stationed there some time beforehand was able to offer his paintings, drawings and sketches of the territory and shoreline to the MOD! |
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| Author: | PhiloNauticus [ Sat Feb 23, 2008 5:05 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
I think it could be considered to be part of the normal accomplishments of a gentleman, that he should be able to sketch & draw. Certainly during the 19th and early 20th century, young officers were encouraged to pursue this. |
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| Author: | tycho [ Sat Mar 01, 2008 9:57 am ] |
| Post subject: | Apology |
The drawing of the chelengk I mentioned in an earlier post is attributed in Richard Walker's book on Nelson's portraits to Spencer Smith, not to Nelson. Apologies. |
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| Author: | molly [ Sun Mar 02, 2008 8:28 pm ] |
| Post subject: | More drawings by Collingwood |
Hello! I'm new on this forum, and in place of a cake, I brought some drawings by Collingwood. These are screencaps taken from the BBC documentary about Collingwood, presented by Max Adams. They show Collingwood's journal; his entries were often accompanied by sketches. 
Molly |
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| Author: | Devenish [ Sun Mar 02, 2008 9:47 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Collingwood's Drawings |
Hello Molly, Welcome to the forum. Your timely posting of two of Collingwood's drawings conveniently 'illustrate' a point I was going to make regarding those done by naval officers. Apart from them being a gentleman's accomplishment, they did fulfil another more functional need. This was not only so that officers could illustrate their own logs to amplify the text, but also so that such detailed drawings could provide details of unfamiliar coastlines, particularly enemy ones. These could then be used as part of an attack plan, if such were envisaged. It was usually clearly noted, as on Collingwood's drawings, from which compass direction the view was drawn from and attention was also drawn to other features. This accomplishment was encouraged from the time an officer was a midshipman and, as we see, continued until he became an Admiral. Kester |
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