Mahratta_pirates_attacking_the_sloop_'Aurora',_of_the_Bombay_Marine,_1812;_end_of_the_action_RMG_BHC1085.tiff
Summary
Thomas Buttersworth : Mahratta pirates attacking the sloop 'Aurora', of the Bombay Marine, 1812; end of the action | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Artist |
artist QS:P170,Q7788095
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Object type |
painting
object_type QS:P31,Q3305213
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Description |
English:
Mahratta pirates attacking the sloop 'Aurora', of the Bombay Marine, 1812; end of the action
(Updated, September 2014). In the early 19th century British ships were still vulnerable to surprise attacks by pirates, who used their knowledge of the sea and local conditions to full advantage. The ‘Aurora’ was a 14-gun sloop of 247 tons, launched at Bombay in 1809 for the Bombay Marine - the armed naval force run in the Eastern seas by the East India Company, mainly for trade defence: it became the Royal Indian Marine in 1830 and subsequently the basis of the modern Indian navy. In September 1809 'Aurora' was one of the joint naval and Bombay Marine squadron which went to the Persian Gulf to suppress Arab raiders operating out of Ras al-Khaimah, with only limited effect at that point. Mahratta (or Maratha) raiders in the Bay of Bay of Bengal were a longstanding problem for the Company and three wars were fought against the Mahratta Empire: 1775–1802, 1803–05, and 1817–18 before it was neutralized and subsequently absorbed into British India.This painting is one of a pair (the other being BHC1084) which entered the Museum as part of the Macpherson Collection in 1927 and the basis for the date of 1812 that has been long attached to the incident shown in them is no longer clear. If accurate, the 'Aurora' clearly beat of the assault given that she was still in the Bombay Marine in 1819 when she also took part in the final reduction of Ras al-Khaimah. All the other vessels shown here are Mahratta, the two ship-rigged ones being grabs (though their distinctive bows are not visible) and the small ones gallivats. Buttersworth did other versions of the subject of which one, then in the collection of Sir Ernest Robinson, was reproduced as frontispiece to Colonel John Biddulph's 'The Pirates of Malabar and an Englishwoman in India Two Hundred Years Ago' (London 1907). Buttersworth did other versions of the subject of Bombay Marine vessels attacked by Mahrattas of which one, then in the collection of Sir Ernest Robinson, was reproduced as frontispiece to Colonel John Biddulph's 'The Pirates of Malabar and an Englishwoman in India Two Hundred Years Ago' (London 1907).
Thomas Buttersworth (1768–1842), like many other British marine painters, was a seaman who recorded his experiences in paint and charcoal. Several of the 27 watercolours by him in the NMM are mounted on sheets from 18th-century printed signal and muster books. In 1795 he is documented as enlisting on board HM receiving ship ‘Enterprise’ in London. He served on the ‘Caroline’ during the Napoleonic Wars and was invalided home from Minorca in 1800. Paintings such as the ‘Nelson's Inshore Blockading Squadron at Cadiz, July 1797’ (BHC0499) probably reflect events he witnessed. Following his return to London, he was appointed Marine Painter to the East India Company and added commissioned ship portraits to his already prolific output of naval battle scenes.
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Date |
19
th
century
date QS:P571,+1850-00-00T00:00:00Z/7
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Medium | oil on canvas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dimensions | Frame: 394 mm x 606 mm x 45 mm;Painting: 330 mm x 545 mm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Collection |
institution QS:P195,Q7374509
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Current location | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Accession number |
BHC1085
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References | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source/Photographer | http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/12577 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Permission
( Reusing this file ) |
The original artefact or artwork has been assessed as public domain by age, and faithful reproductions of the two dimensional work are also public domain. No permission is required for reuse for any purpose. The text of this image record has been derived from the Royal Museums Greenwich catalogue and image metadata. Individual data and facts such as date, author and title are not copyrightable, but reuse of longer descriptive text from the catalogue may not be considered fair use . Reuse of the text must be attributed to the "National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London" and a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-SA-3.0 license may apply if not rewritten. Refer to Royal Museums Greenwich copyright . |
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Other versions |
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Identifier
InfoField
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Acquisition Number: 1927-251.2
id number: BHC1085 |
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Collection
InfoField
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Oil paintings |
Licensing
This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional,
public domain
work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason:
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faithful reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works of art are public domain
".
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