The death of Admiral Lord Nelson - in the moment of victory! (Horatio Nelson; Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy, 1st Bt)

1 portrait by James Gillray

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© National Portrait Gallery, London

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The death of Admiral Lord Nelson - in the moment of victory! (Horatio Nelson; Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy, 1st Bt)

by James Gillray, published by Hannah Humphrey
hand-coloured etching and aquatint, published 23 December 1805
15 1/4 in. x 11 in. (388 mm x 279 mm) plate size; 15 7/8 in. x 11 5/8 in. (403 mm x 296 mm) paper size
Purchased, 1947
Reference Collection
NPG D12856

Sittersback to top

Artistsback to top

  • James Gillray (1756-1815), Caricaturist. Artist or producer associated with 887 portraits, Sitter in 7 portraits.
  • Hannah Humphrey (circa 1745-1818), Publisher and printseller. Artist or producer associated with 720 portraits, Sitter in 1 portrait.

This portraitback to top

The overblown heroism of the best-selling prints commemorating the death of Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar (1805) were ripe for parody. Unsurprisingly the caricaturist James Gillray rose to the occasion. He alternately celebrated and lampooned Nelson and in this fine etching, published only weeks after Nelson's state funeral, he managed a clever combination of both. Everything is excessive: Britannia weeps a little too extravagantly as the dying admiral swoons, grey-faced in her arms, the angel's declaration of 'Immortality' is made to seem premature and immodest while the grey clouds of smoke billow so enthusiastically they threaten to choke the assembly.

Placesback to top

Events of 1805back to top

Current affairs

Nelson's state funeral is held at St Paul's. An occasion for an outpouring of national grief and patriotism, the grand ceremony built on the cult of Nelson which had emerged in the years before his death.

Art and science

Mary Tighe publishes Pysche or the Legend of Love, a romantic allegory in the fashionable medieval revival style, admired by both Keats and Shelley.
The 'poems of Ossian' are officially declared a fake and a great literary scandal ends as Scottish poet James Macpherson is exposed as the forger of the third century bard's epic works.

International

Battle of Trafalgar. Napoleon's ultimate plan to invade England from Boulogne with 100,000 men is thwarted by superior British naval power. Nelson dies in the closing moments of battle having been wounded by a French sniper, but survives long enough to learn that a decisive victory has been won.

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