Nelson: Britannia's God of War (94 page)

1 The first portrait of Nelson, by John Francis Rigaud, begun in 1777 when he was  appointed a Lieutenant, but heavily modified after his return to England as a heroic  Captain in 1780. The sword was a gift from his mentor, Maurice Suckling – patronage  enabled Nelson to reach a high rank early in his career, and this was a talisman he would  take with him in every battle, bar Trafalgar.

2 In 1785 Nelson’s lifelong friend  Cuthbert Collingwood painted him  more as a boy than a man. Collingwood  was a decade older than his friend, but  as his junior on the Navy List he was  condemned forever to follow in his  footsteps from their first ship to their  final command.

3
Nelson Boarding the San Josef at Cape St Vincent
: George Jones added a touch of  romance to the drama of the double boarding that made Nelson (with Suckling’s sword in  his hand) a household name. No one else had ever taken two enemy ships in such dramatic  style, or taken such care to ensure the world heard of his achievement.

4 As his boat approached the beach at Tenerife, Nelson was hit in the right arm, which had  to be amputated. Richard Westall’s image of the wounded hero celebrated the quick thinking of Josiah Nisbet, whose tourniquet saved the Admiral’s life. Despite his wound Nelson  was careful to keep hold of his uncle’s sword.

5
The Battle of the Nile
: Thomas Whitcombe shows the moment the French ships opened  fire, as Goliath and Zealous shaped to round the head of their line. The French have been  caught at anchor, with the wind blowing down their line: they will be annihilated by the  skilful application of overwhelming force. 

6 George Arnaud’s
The Destruction of L’Orient at the Battle of the Nile
: HMS
Alexander
  remains close to the exploding French flagship, as debris is hurled into the night sky. Among the burning wreckage to land on her deck was one of Admiral Bruey’s silver forks.

7
Nelson recreating with his brave tars after the glorious battle of the Nile
: Rowlandson  exaggerates Nelson’s common touch, and misses the powerful religious element in his  response to the triumph. However, such images helped to cement his popular appeal, and  establish his central role in the national identity.

8 Nicolas Pocock’s
The Battle of Copenhagen
, along with the other canvases commissioned  for the official life, has become a standard way of viewing Nelson. After twenty years as a  merchant ship captain, Pocock was a painstaking and exact painter of ships and coasts.

9 J. M. W. Turner’s
The Battle of Trafalgar
: one of the most insightful artistic responses to  Nelson. Commissioned by George IV, who recognised the magic of Nelson’s life and was  desperate to capture it for himself, the picture was ultimately given away by a King who  did not understand the subject or the artist.

10
The Death of Nelson
: Benjamin West’s first attempt, engraved by James Heath, sold very well on publication in 1811. Despite its patent absurdity – having the crew as an audience on the upper deck, in the midst of a battle – it became the defining pr
i
nt.

11 Arthur Devis’s
The Death of Nelson
: an altogether more impressive image than West’s  stylised inaccuracy. It catches the moment when the hero slipped away to join the gods, his  earthly span at an end.