Entering the Breach of the Moro Castle, by Storm, 30 July 1762 [the Siege of Havana]

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

Dominic Serres, marine painter and nephew of the Archbishop of Rheims, was born in Auch, Gascony. He studied at the English Benedictine school at Douai but is thought to have run away and served with the Spanish fleet, before being captured and sent to England as a prisoner of war in c.1750. After his release, he painted views of country houses. In the late 1750s he moved to London, where he was a pupil of marine painter Charles Brooking. He established a reputation for battle scenes during the Seven Years War and the War of American Independence. In 1768, he was one of the founder members of the Royal Academy and in 1780 he was made marine painter to George III. He became librarian of the Royal Academy in 1792, shortly before his death.
Engraver Pierre [Peter] Charles Canot is thought to have been born in France in c.1710; the brother of painter Philippe Canot. He was presumably in London by c.1735, when he produced hunting prints after paintings by John Wootton. A further set of prints, after marine works painted by Peter Monamy, were published in 1746. In 1758 he began a lasting collaboration with marine artist Richard Paton. The outbreak of the Seven Years' War brought commissions for depictions of the many naval engagements. He exhibited 19 works at the Society of Artists from 1760 to 1769 and was elected one of the original associate engravers of the Royal Academy in 1770, exhibiting there until 1776. Canot died at his home in Hampstead Road, in the winter of 1777-78.

Places

Caribbean Islands (West Indies), Cuba

Subjects

rowing boat, topography, seascape/coastal scene, cliff, coat of arms, Seven Years War, Battle of Havana, fortress, ship

Materials & Techniques

engraving, coloured engraving

Artist

Dominic Serres (1722 - 1793)
Pierre Charles Canot (1710 - 1777)

Title

Entering the Breach of the Moro Castle, by Storm, 30 July 1762 [the Siege of Havana]

Date

Medium

Coloured engraving

Acquisition

Purchased from the Parker Gallery, September 1963

GAC number

6190