~ Framed Harold Wyllie Oil Painting HMS Vanguard At The Battle Of Gabbard 1653 ~
This fine and sizeable oil painting depicts HMS Vanguard heaving to at sunset after the Battle Of Gabbard 1653.
It is signed to the lower left.
~ Harold Wyllie ~
Marine painter, sculptor and engraver, born in London. Was the son of the marine artist William Lionel Wyllie and married the portrait painter Euphans Hilary Strain. Harold Wyllie was intended for the Navy, but failed his examinations and turned to art. In 1898 he went to New York as a special artist for The Graphic, then served in South Africa during the Boer War. For part of World War I he was a pilot with the Royal Flying Corps, then gained a commission in the Army, which he left in 1920 with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. Wyllie was then a student with Frank Short, having prior to the war studied with his father, Thomas Graham Jackson and Edwin Austin Abbey, the American painter. Acknowledged as an expert on shipping matters, Wyllie was in 1932 called on to supervise restoration of the Implacable.
He listed nautical research as his recreation to the end. He was honorary marine painter to the Royal Yacht Squadron, 1934, and served with the Navy in World War II. Exhibited RA, RI, Leicester Galleries and Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts. The Imperial War Museum and the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, hold his work. Lived in Perthshire, Scotland.
~ Battle Of Gabbard ~
The Battle of the Gabbard, was a naval battle fought from 2 to 3 June 1653 during the First Anglo-Dutch War. It took place near the Gabbard shoal off the coast of Suffolk, England, between fleets of the Commonwealth of England and the Dutch Republic. It resulted in a significant English victory.
~ HMS Vanguard ~
HMS Vanguard was a 40-gun ship of the English Royal Navy, launched in 1631 at Woolwich, and was the second vessel to bear the name. Officially she was rebuilt from the first Vanguard, but likely only shared some of the timber and fittings from the previous ship. By 1660, her armament had been increased to 56 guns.
She took part in both the First and Second Dutch Wars. The ship served as the flagship for General at Sea George Monck at the Battle of Portland in 1653, and of Vice-Admiral Joseph Jordan at the Battle of the Gabbard and the Battle of Scheveningen later the same year. She also took part in several actions of the Second Dutch War, including the Battle of Lowestoft in 1665 and the Four Days Battle and St James's Day Fight in 1666. In 1667 Vanguard was scuttled to form a barrier in the River Medway to prevent the Dutch fleet from capturing or burning the British ships there. She was subsequently sold.
~ Condition ~
Please refer to the images for the condition. The painting is in excellent order, the frame has a few chips.
~ Dimensions ~
The frame is 94cm (37 inches) wide and 59 cm (23 inches) tall.
