Nelson & His World

Scroll down to see a photograph of a watercolour painting of Nelson and Frances Nisbet 'about the time of their wedding.' I've never seen this reproduced anywhere else. Could it be an 'imaginative reconstruction' like Davidson's paintings? Or could it really have been painted from life?

http://www.twogreens.co.uk/wakeup/people/frances.htm

Came across this a few months ago on the net - Nelson looks rather large and robust - he looks a lot bigger than Fanny. But she has the same calm, slightly guarded looks shown on the later portraits, so perhaps it is true to life. It is certainly possible to imagine why Nelson fell in love with her, even if she was later overwhelmed by the force that was Emma Hamilton!

Caitlin

I wondered about the authenticity of this. The costume seems about right for the 1780s but the man's hair is heavily powdered - Nelson wasn't grey in his late twenties - and there seems to be little or no powder used in the Rigaud painting. The woman's hair too is powdered, which it is not on other paintings of Fanny at roughly the same age. As you say, 'Nelson' appears much bigger than 'Fanny'. Since he was slightly built, Fanny must have been minute. It could have been a little artistic licence, though, to give the male figure a bit more status, just as the height of Prince Charles and Princess Diana was manipulated in official photographs - she was actually taller than him.

Why is 'Nelson' wearing a breast star on his coat at his wedding? Is the painting perhaps of Prince William Henry giving away the bride?

He is also wearing a blue sash under his coat - the Order of the Garter?

Aha! I think you're right, Tony!

Are you going to put the cat among the pigeons and email the museum?

Tony,

My first thought was 'why would Nelson be shown wearing an Order he was not entititled to?' You would appear to be right, since the figure does appear to be wearing the sash of the Order of the Garter, and thus presumably also the Star of the Order. The blue sash is worn from the left shoulder (I looked it up) and Prince William Henry was made a Knight of the Garter in 1782 (I also looked that up), so it would all seem to fit with your supposition, that the figure is not Nelson but the Prince.

I am not even sure it is a naval uniform either, it does seem somehow rather indistinct.