Rhyanon Demery
Head of Sale
Lot 183
Attributed to Charles Chatworthy Wood Taylor(British, 1792-1856)'A View of H.M.S. Collingwood at the instant of shifting the Flag of Admiral Sir Geo S[eymo]ur from white to red and crossing top gallant yards at 8 A.M on the (Valparaiso)'
Amended
14 September 2021, 13:00 BST
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £3,187.50 inc. premium
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Attributed to Charles Chatworthy Wood Taylor (British, 1792-1856)
'A View of H.M.S. Collingwood at the instant of shifting the Flag of Admiral Sir Geo S[eymo]ur from white to red and crossing top gallant yards at 8 A.M on the (Valparaiso)'
indistinctly inscribed (lower left), further inscribed as titled (along the lower edge)
pencil, ink, watercolour and bodycolour on paper laid down on card
32.7 x 49.2cm (12 7/8 x 19 3/8in).
indistinctly inscribed (lower left), further inscribed as titled (along the lower edge)
pencil, ink, watercolour and bodycolour on paper laid down on card
32.7 x 49.2cm (12 7/8 x 19 3/8in).
Saleroom notices
For variants of this subject by Wood, a Liverpudlian-born artist and engineer who worked in Chile between 1817 and 1852, see Christie's South Kensington, 26 May 2004, lot 398 for the slightly larger version dedicated and gifted by the artist to Admiral Seymour ("H.M.S. Collingwood, 80 guns, in the bay of Valparaiso, 25th October 1847, at the moment of shifting the flag of Rear-Admiral Sir George Seymour, C.B. & G.C.H. from white to the red with H.M.S. Carysfort, in attendance and saluting"), and Christie's London, 8 April 1998, lot 29 (for a smaller version signed, inscribed and dated "Chas C Wood November 1847. / Taken by the Camera Obscura"). The subject celebrates the promotion of Seymour to Rear-Admiral of the Red. Seymour was Commander-in-Chief of the British Navy's Pacific Station, 1844-1847, his flagship the third-rate Collingwood seen here. Seymour's squadron based in Valparaiso looked after British political and commercial interests in the Pacific and along America's Pacific coastline. The subject affords a valuable glimpse of the early layout of Valparaiso: on the right, beyond the shipping and above the port, the artist depicts the Chilean flag flying over the Naval School, with Customs Square below, the main municipal centre, dominated by the clock tower of the Customs House, with the fledgling wharf, and surrounding warehouses along the shoreline and on the slopes above.