Lord Exmouth's Commission: Part 1

Title: Lord Exmouth's Commission: 64 Harley Street, London, 1816
Author: Anteros
Characters: John Thomas Serres, Olive Serres, J.M.W. Turner, Archie Kennedy, Horatio Hornblower
Rating: R
Notes: This is the first of a five part fic written for nodbear's birthday and inspired by her beautiful fic Eyes To See and the gorgeous work of Admiralty Artist J.T Serres. This fic tells the story of how Serres came to undertake a commission to paint a portrait of a particular young lieutenant. Almost all the aspects and events of Serres life described here are true, apart from his meeting with fictional characters. Obviously ;)

( 64 Harley Street, London, 1816 )

Serres Portraits

Since I'm going to be spamming you with fic about JT Serres for the rest of the week I thought you might like to see a picture of him. Strangely, for a man who came from a distinguished family of artists and had a long career as an artist himself, there are no surviving portraits of Serres. The only known image of John Thomas Serres is this small self portrait of the artist at work which appears in the corner of an aquatint of Liverpool harbour from 1797.

Liverpool From the Fort

John Thomas Serres

The image bears a certain family resemblance to John's father Dominic Serres, Marine Painter to George III, of whom several portraits survive. The National Portrait Gallery also holds the only known portrait of Olive Wilmot Serres, John's delusional wife the self styled Princess Olive of Cumberland.

Dominic Serres

Olive Wilmot Serres