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Notes
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This painting depicts the launch of the 74-gun warship HMS 'Alexander' at Deptford Dockyard. The 'Alexander' can be seen on the stocks in the background. There are a number of barges and smaller vessels, full of spectators, watching her launch. In the foreground, several Royal Navy vessels are moored off the dockyard. The 'Alexander' later served at the Battle of the Nile in 1798. In the painting the festive celebrations are emphasised through the inclusion of flags and pennants and the representation of crowds of spectators on the quayside and in boats the water. With its low horizon the work recalls Dutch seventeenth-century marine painting. Like his father, John Cleveley the Younger depicted the Royal Dockyards at Deptford, Woolwich and Chatham and in many works the son followed his father’s example in producing paintings commemorating launches.
Title
Launch of HMS 'Alexander' at Deptford in 1778
Date
c.1778
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
H 41.9 x W 67.31 cm
Accession number
BHC1875
Work type
Painting
National Maritime Museum
Romney Road, Greenwich, London, Greater London SE10 9NF England
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