Foster 301

Edward Pellew,1st Viscount Exmouth, Admiral (1757-1835) c.1817

A full-length figure. Pellew is shown standing on his quarter-deck, during the bombardment of Algiers, bareheaded, a telescope in his right hand and the left raised. He wears the ribbon and insignia of the Bath and several foreign decorations.

109 by 71 ins (272 by 180 cms)

Presented by the 6th Earl of Hardwicke, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for India, 1901

Engraved: Mezzotint by Charles Turner 1818 for E.P. Brenton, ‘Naval history of Great Britain 1783-1836’ (London, 1837)

Viscount Exmouth bombarded Algiers in August 1816 and rescued 3,000 Christian slaves from the Bey. Served in the War of American Independence. Commander-in-Chief East Indies 1804-09. During this period he defeated the Dutch at Batavia and Gresik and protected British ships against French privateers.

The present picture is a copy by Beechey of the painting belonging to the Ironmonger’s Company which he exhibited in 1817 at the Royal Academy. It was described in the catalogue as depicting the Admiral ‘towards the close of the evening, ordering sails of the Queen ‘Charlotte’ to be hauled in, in consequence of the burning of an Algerian vessel immediately under the stern’. It was purchased from the artist by the fourth Earl of Hardwicke, who had served under Lord Exmouth at the bombardment. For many years it hung on the great staircase at Wimpole House.