Art Gallery of Old Ship Portraits and Marine Paintings
 



Pirat Napoleonische Kriege

Ship Portrait of the Privateer (Pirate) *Juliane Sophie of Copenhagen* chased by the British Brigg *Musqwetto* 1809 - the sloop is shown with three captured ships attacked by the Royal Navy Brigg off an Island - Gouache and Watercolor on paper, heightened with white, 22 by 36 cm (8 5/8 by 14 inch), with frame 47 x 56 cm (18 1/2 by 22 inch) - extensively inscribed with title (see below) and dated 1809 - tanned paper and ago signs otherwise ok - recent mounting and frame - Private Collection, Denmark

Note: The full inscription reads as following: "Privateren Juliane Sophie af Kiöbenhavn forfulgt med 3-de Priser af de engelske Slop of War Brig Musqwetto den 12. May 1809" - From the inscription and style we suppose this picture has been done by Jens Iversen (1788-1855), but there were several other artists active in this period. We did not open the picture which is framed under glass.

Jens Iversen (attr.)
(1788-1855)
* Photo Copyright is with the FineArtEmporium.*

Presented by the FineArtEmporium in Hamburg.

Provenance: Collection in Hamburg, Germany

Old Master Ship Portrait
attributed to Jens Iversen (1788-1855) - Portrait of the Pirate Ship "Juliane Sophie" chased by a Royal Navy Ship 1809 - Photo Copyright is with the FineArtEmporium - Go back to the Gallery



Following are shown some more photos of the painting:

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and detail photos:




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This watercolor were hold together with a pair of hand-colored engravings from the late 18th or early 19th Century showing the Sea Battle of the Doggersbank 1781 (between British and Dutch ships), engraved after pictures by Joseph Marianus (Augsburg, 1738-1788). These pictures are framed in the same size and with the same frames as the Pirate Ship Portrait, so these three pictures fits very nice together - eg. the watercolor in the middle and the two engraving right and left.

To understand the background of the "Juliane Sophie" Ship Portrait some facts about the history of the Napoleonic Wars sand Nelson period:
Following the Sea Battle of Copenhagen Roads in 1801 (where Nelson won against the Danish Naval Fleet) in 1807 the Royal Navy started a bombardment of the harbour and town of Copenhagen. The Danish were forced to surrender and to hand over its 18 larger (and many more smaller) war ships to London.

From this year on (1807) until 1814 seafarers from the area received from the Danish King a Royal Licence to attack British (and neutral) merchant ships, in other words the Government supported the Piracy. About 600 so called Privateers (= pirates with the Royal Licence) were in these 7 years capturing ships and goods for more than 100 million rigsdaler. Despite of the large number of Privateers hardly ship portraits or other paintings depicting these vessel have been preserved. One reason is surely that there were not so many artists available in these early days and another reason is obviously that a number of pictures (which were at 90% done in watercolor) did not survive the last 200 years. Therefore the portrait of the "Juliane Sophie" shown here in action is a rare historical document of the Nelson period and worth to hang in a museum or upscale private collection.

We would also like to refer on this occasion to the longer article by Dr. Hanne Poulsen "Skibsportraetter og situationsbilleder fra Napoleonskrigene 1797-1814" page 32 and following in her book "Danske Skibsportraetmalere".