The Droits de L'Homme by James Lynn

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 :}