The Droits de L'Homme by James Lynn

[anteros_lmc]

Last week Bonhams auctioned a painting of the iconic engagement between the Indefatigable, Amazon and Droits de L'Homme by marine painter John Lynn. I had never come across Lynn, who the catalogue describes as...

"...a painter of shipping and coastal scenes. He exhibited at the British Institution from 1828 to– 1838 and he also exhibited at the Suffolk Street Gallery. His output was small, but his works are always of exceptional quality."

The painting sold for £10,000 and it's certainly one of the more accurate and realistic representations of the engagement that I've seen. Lynn clearly shows the damage to the French ship's fore and main topmasts and the sea washing over her lower gun ports. I'm guessing from the position of the three ships, and the moon breaking through the clouds, that this scene is from the end of the engagement, but I wouldn't like to say which ship is the Amazon and which is the Bloody Indy :}

Comments

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

I can feel the terror, from here. That is an amazing painting. Poor poor men.

[rum-inspector.livejournal.com]

I honestly can't see terror. It's rather strangely beautiful, eerie scene. Something everyone would love having in their wall. Until they learn the story behind it. Just like the photo of a suicide girl by Robert Wiles

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

For me it is the color of the water, I don't know-- you can sort of see how really helpless the ships are, cut off from the land, cut off from each other.

I agree it is eerie and lovely. But the power of the water scares me.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Yes I think that's definitely true. This is one of the few paintings of the engagement I've seen that gives a realistic idea of the intensity of the storm

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

I hadn't seen Wiles photograph before. It's stunning, in every sense of the word. And I can see the comparison here, on the one hand this could just be a lovely painting of ships, but if you know of the violence of the engagement and the men that died in the subsequent wreck, it appears in an entirely different light.

[vespican.livejournal.com]

I'd hazard to guess that INDY is the center vessel, the one seen nearly broadside. The one to the left appears to be a frigate of normal construction. Smoke and spray hides Indy's quarter galleries, but they would have been a deck higher than normal, resulting from having been razeed from a 64.
Dave

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

It's hard to tell without seeing the stern of the centre ship. You're right about the Indefatigable of course, she was readily distinguished by having a stern gallery on the same level as her quarterdeck.

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

I cannot tell which way the wind is coming from. I may be over thinking this but the Indy is never broached to, is she?

[vespican.livejournal.com]

My thought is that the wind is coming from the right, perhaps blowing a little toward the observer. Indy and Droits de L'Homme are both before the wind. Amazon appears to be on a starboard reach or tack.
Dave
PS A fun part of writing battle scenes...diagramming the movements of the vessels in relationship to each other and the wind.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

You're right! According to John Gaze, the Droits de L'Homme ran before the wind during the entire 10 hours of the engagement and never once changed her course. Because the frigates' masts were less damaged than the 74's they kept running ahead of the larger vessel and continually had to wear across her bows. At one point, not wearing fast enough, the bowsprit of the French ship came very close to the stern of the Indefatigable almost running her down.

PS A fun part of writing battle scenes...diagramming the movements of the vessels in relationship to each other and the wind.
I once saw a fascinating interview with Geoff Hunt, where he explained how he reconstructed engagement and ship movements from masters logs. He had a planning board with maps, compass, wind vane and little model wooden ships that he used to work out the vessels' relative positions before he started work on the actual painting.

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

Yes-- that makes more sense.