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Lot Essay
As a result of the campaigns of the Napoleonic wars (1803-1815), which saw European countries raise troops for their armies on an unprecedented scale, London was beset with unemployed disbanded soldiers seeking work following their dispersal at the end of the conflicts.
By 1810, at the height of activity, the navy increased in size to roughly 140,000. However, this figure plummeted to about 20,000 after 1815. Large numbers of these men were thrown back onto the charity of the seaports or their home towns, relying on the strict and sparse resources set forth under the Poor Laws, a system that was codified by 1898 to provide relief to the destitute. Able-bodied seamen had some hope of finding work, but provision for the maimed and wounded was inadequate at best. In 1815, with the overwhelming influx of mendicant sailors into London, artists found rich subjects to depict amongst the resourceful beggars trying to make a living. Some, like J.T. Smith, a talented etcher and Keeper of Prints at the British Museum, depicted beggars such as John Johnson, Black Joe, in caricature-like poses.
Others, such as the present work, were more sentimental. In this painting, Cossé, depicts a crippled sailor and his family begging for funds before a model ship, into which a young girl, possibly his daughter, drops a penny, whilst his small son tips the contents of his hat hopefully filled with the largesse of his audience, into the model. Cossé, whilst playing to the hearts of his audience, gives a stark reminder of the cause of this man's distress in the posters on the wall - one reads Destruction to the Flotilla, another Repair the Victory, whilst a third gives a patriotic reminder of the strength of a nation that went forward from the victory over Napoleon to become the prime power in Europe, England For Ever, a sentiment that reflected the feeling at the commencement of the rise of the British Empire to its Imperial height.
By 1810, at the height of activity, the navy increased in size to roughly 140,000. However, this figure plummeted to about 20,000 after 1815. Large numbers of these men were thrown back onto the charity of the seaports or their home towns, relying on the strict and sparse resources set forth under the Poor Laws, a system that was codified by 1898 to provide relief to the destitute. Able-bodied seamen had some hope of finding work, but provision for the maimed and wounded was inadequate at best. In 1815, with the overwhelming influx of mendicant sailors into London, artists found rich subjects to depict amongst the resourceful beggars trying to make a living. Some, like J.T. Smith, a talented etcher and Keeper of Prints at the British Museum, depicted beggars such as John Johnson, Black Joe, in caricature-like poses.
Others, such as the present work, were more sentimental. In this painting, Cossé, depicts a crippled sailor and his family begging for funds before a model ship, into which a young girl, possibly his daughter, drops a penny, whilst his small son tips the contents of his hat hopefully filled with the largesse of his audience, into the model. Cossé, whilst playing to the hearts of his audience, gives a stark reminder of the cause of this man's distress in the posters on the wall - one reads Destruction to the Flotilla, another Repair the Victory, whilst a third gives a patriotic reminder of the strength of a nation that went forward from the victory over Napoleon to become the prime power in Europe, England For Ever, a sentiment that reflected the feeling at the commencement of the rise of the British Empire to its Imperial height.