Lot 60

PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED PRIVATE COLLECTIONyou should watch Sevastapol and the movements of the Russian Fleet with your frigates and steamers, while the great body of the combined force remained within the Bosphorus ready to move at a moment's notice. Admiralty to Admiral Dundas, 17 January 1854

C.J.F.E., 1854

The Combined Fleets of France and England in the Bosphorus AD. 1854

Details

C.J.F.E., 1854
The Combined Fleets of France and England in the Bosphorus AD. 1854
signed with initials and inscribed 'THE BOSPHORUS / C.J.F.E.' (lower right), inscribed 'GOD / DEFEND / THE / RIGHT / VIDE. LD J. RUSSELL' (lower centre), inscribed as titled on the mount, and further extensively inscribed with a key to the French and British shipping on the mount
pencil, pen and ink, watercolour and bodycolour on two joined sheets
18 ½ x 77 ½in. (47 x 97cm.)

Provenance

Private collection, London.

Brought to you by

Helena Ingham

hingham@christies.com +44(0)20 7389 2046

Lot Essay

The impressive sight of the massed Anglo-French fleets at anchor during the Crimean War proved a popular subject with naval topographers (such as the present artist) and professional artists alike. There is a more modest watercolour by Preziosi in the V&A: (The Bosphorus with the Allied Fleets at Anchor, 1854, SD825: 'During the Crimean War the British, French and Turkish fleets anchored in the bay of Buyiikdere in the Bosphorus north of the city, within sight of the entrance to the Black Sea. The war generated an immense amount of interest in Turkey and its inhabitants and such views of 'the seat of war in the east' were very popular with the British; a similar but much larger example [by Joseph Schranz] is dated October 1853 (Government Art Collection no. 1807).')

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