Interesting Art Corner

So I decided on a whim to post a painting I found interesting, as well as a little backstory on it. This may be a regular thing, or maybe I'll do it twice and never again, who knows. But check this out, I think it's a pretty cool painting. Click for a bigger view.

The Sortie Made by the Garrison of Gibraltar, 1789 (also called The Sortie made by the Garrison of Gibraltar in the Morning of the 27 of November 1781)is the title of a 1789 oil-on-canvas painting by American artist John Trumbull. The painting depicts the siege made by the Spanish forces against the British at Gibraltar in 1781. Trumbull focuses on the death of Spanish officer Don Jose de Barboza who had been abandoned by his own troops but who nevertheless attacked the British column and thereby earned the respect of the British.

The painting depicts the events of the night of November 26, 1781 when British troops made a sudden attack (sortie), against the enemy batteries. The death of the Spanish officer Don Jose de Barboza is the focal point of the painting. He fell mortally wounded and died near his post refusing assistance after having been abandoned by his troops. He is portrayed as rejecting the aid of General George Elliott, commander of the British troops.

In 1782, the Siege was lifted and Trumbull's friend Antonio de Poggi, an artist and dealer based in London who had been in the besieged garrison, told him of an earlier incident, which had occurred in November 1781. This had all the ingredients he sought:

"...the Heroism of the vanquished, the Humanity of the Victors - the darkness of night illuminating an extensive conflagration - the Hurry and Tumult of the troops busy in the work of destruction - the quiet & calm of the Officers, the guiding Spirits of the Scene."

Trumbull labored on the composition, over many sketches and three large completed canvases. As the project progressed, Trumbull's ambitions for it to be his big breakthrough to major patronage grew too. He refused large offers for the picture, preferring to exhibit it privately for admission fees.

Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford had called the painting:

"the finest picture [he] had ever seen painted on the northern side of the Alps."