Nelson Navy Nation (and Gabriel Bray)

[anteros_lmc]

There's an article in the Guardian today about the National Maritime Museum's new exhibition Nelson, Navy, Nation which is due to open on the 21st of October. The article, Nelson put in his place by new Maritime Museum exhibition, seems to be rather agog that the exhibition will portray Nelson as "just one of many heroes – and a flawed one at that". Surely not! There's a rather more balanced quote from James Davey, curator of naval history.

"Anyone coming here looking for a shrine to Nelson will be disappointed, we have put Nelson back into the context of the navy. We were very anxious to avoid hagiography. We are showing him as a man who made mistakes – but also as a man who learned from his mistakes. He was undoubtedly exceptional, but we have tried to show why."

What really made me squee though is the news that the exhibition will also feature the original works of Gabriel Bray.

As far as the curators are concerned, Lieutenant Gabriel Bray, whose inglorious naval career spluttered out in a desk job, is another hero. He seems to have spent most of his time on board sketching, and his vivid watercolours, most on display for the first time, give a unique view of everyday life below decks.

How wonderful that Bray's beautiful art work will finally get the recognition it deserves! All of which gives me the perfect excuse to post this gorgeous self portrait of Bray again.


If you're interested, the NMM have been posting images from the installation of the new exhibition on their facebook page here and you can see the rest of Bray's beautiful water colours on the NMM collections site here. Now, if only I could actually get down to Greenwich to see the exhibition myself!

Comments

[mylodon.livejournal.com]

Luvverly.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

I sincerely hope that I'll actually manage to get down to see this one of these fine days. I've still never been to Greenwich!

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

He is so young and vulnerable. (Bray, I mean.)

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

It's such an intimate portrait isn't it? I wonder what made him think of painting a self portrait like this?

[nodbear.livejournal.com]

Did he paint it for someone do you think back home ( or on board even?)

And perhaps never found the way to give it to him/her - it has such depth of him in it you feel

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

I'm inclined to think he painted this for himself, as part of the day to day scenes he recorded in his sketchbook. There's also the self portrait of him painting which I suspect was done using the same mirror. I wonder if having completed the painting portrait, he then decided to paint a picture of what he normally used the mirror for?!