The Defence of Gibraltar on the Night of 13 and 14 September 1782

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Ministry of Defence, Royal Artillery Barracks, Woolwich

Richard Paton, marine painter, was born in London and is said to have been discovered on Tower Hill as a poor boy by Admiral Sir Charles Knowles. Knowles took him to sea, after which he found employment in the Excise Office, where he was still working at the time of his death. The earliest evidence of Paton painting is the exhibition of two works by him at the Society of Artists in 1762. He continued to exhibit with the Society for several years, before resigning in 1771. Five years later, Paton began to exhibit at the Royal Academy, where he showed his work until 1780. In 1776, he was granted permission by King George III to paint the Royal Dockyards at Chatham and Deptford and the resulting paintings are now in the Royal Collection.
London-born engraver James Fittler exhibited two sketches at the Free Society of Artists, aged 17. He studied engraving at the Royal Academy Schools from 21 and exhibited there between 1788 and 1824, becoming an associate in 1800. He was later appointed marine engraver to George III. He contributed to Boydell’s ‘Shakespeare Gallery’ and co-published ‘Views of Weymouth’ (1790-91) and (with Robert Bowyer) an illustrated bible (1795), losing some £1500 in the later venture. He published engravings for John Claude Nattes's ‘Scotia Depicta’ (1804) and made reproductions of Raphael's ‘Cartoons’ (1810). His last published works illustrated Thomas Frognall Dibdin's ‘Account of the Mansion, Books, and Pictures, at Althorp’ (1822). He died aged 77.

Places

Strait of Gibraltar, Gibraltar, Spain

Subjects

rowing boat, topography, night, smoke, stone/rock, sea, cannon, naval battle, Siege/Relief of Gibraltar, shipwreck, ship

Materials & Techniques

engraving

Artist

Richard Paton (1717 - 1791)
James Fittler (1758 - 1835)

Title

The Defence of Gibraltar on the Night of 13 and 14 September 1782

Date

published 1 June 1786

Medium

Engraving

Acquisition

Purchased from Colnaghi, October 1953

GAC number

2328