The Great ’Peace Review of the Fleet’ held at Spithead on 23 April 1856, following the conclusion of the Crimean War

Name: CARLO BOSSOLI (ITALIAN, 1815-1884)
Brand: The Great ’Peace Review of the Fleet’ held at Spithead on 23 April 1856, following the conclusion of the Crimean War
Price: 24000.00 GBP
Availability: OutOfStock

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GBP 25,000 - GBP 35,000

Closed: 15 Dec 2022

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CARLO BOSSOLI (ITALIAN, 1815-1884)

The Great ’Peace Review of the Fleet’ held at Spithead on 23 April 1856, following the conclusion of the Crimean War

Closed: 15 Dec 2022

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CARLO BOSSOLI (ITALIAN, 1815-1884)
The Great ’Peace Review of the Fleet’ held at Spithead on 23 April 1856, following the conclusion of the Crimean War
the first signed, inscribed and dated ‘C Bossoli 1856/in London’ (lower right); the second signed, inscribed and dated ‘C. Bossoli. 1856./fece in London’ (lower left)
pencil, watercolour and bodycolour on paper, laid onto canvas
12 x 47¹⁄₂ in. (30 x 121 cm.)
a pair

Commissioned from the artist by William Hamilton, 11th Duke of Hamilton and 8th Duke of Brandon, 1856 and thence by descent to
Lady Mary Louise Douglas-Hamilton (Duchess of Montrose), daughter of the 12th Duke of Hamilton, and later the Duchess of Montrose following her marriage to the 6th Duke of Montrose
Her sale, removed from Easton Park, Wickham Market, Suffolk; Christie’s, London, 23 May 1919, lot 19, as ‘A Naval Review’ – a pair (sold for 16 gns).
Purchased from the above sale by Arthur Tooth & Sons, London.
Purchased from above by A.A. Heath and thence by descent to
Robert Heath of Biddulph Grange, Staffordshire.
Private Collection, U.K.

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Lot Essay

The Baltic Campaign was the decisive campaign in the Russian War, also known as the Crimean War. After bombarding Bomarsund in 1854 and Sveaborg in 1855 and a reconnaissance of Cronstadt, the Anglo-French fleet threatened to return in 1856 to reduce the Russian capital of St Petersburg. It was this application of maritime strategy in the Baltic, rather than the bloody land battles in the Crimea, which brought the war to an end.
Rear-Admiral the Hon. Richard Saunders Dundas, C.B. (1802-1861) was appointed to command the fleet in the Baltic in 1855 in his flagship H.M.S. . For the first time all the ships of a British fleet, over sixty vessels, were equipped with steam engines and capable of manoeuvring without sail. The French fleet was commanded by Vice-Admiral Alexandre-Ferdinand Parseval-Deschenes (1790-1860), with Rear-Admiral Charles-Eugene Penaud (1800-1864) as second-in-command.
After the fall of Sevastopol on 8 September 1855, France had become less interested in continuing the war. Britain had decided to despatch a 'great armament' to the Baltic in 1856 to reduce the island fortress of Kronstadt and allow an assault on the Russian capital of St Petersburg. The well-publicised plans for this fleet, consisting of the 1855 Baltic fleet, augmented with - among others - the newly commissioned floating batteries and gun and mortar vessels, were instrumental in forcing the Russians to the negotiating table. In was originally intended that the fleet should be ready to sail on 1 March, but in fact only two line-of-battle ships and a 'flying squadron' had sailed to start enforcing the blockade of the Baltic by the time peace negotiations started; these ships were back at Spithead in time for the review.
On Wednesday, 23 April 1856 (St George's Day) a 'Great Naval Review' of the Baltic fleet was held at Spithead to celebrate the end of the war (although the Treaty of Paris, which brought the war to an end, and which had been signed on 30 March, was only to be ratified four days later).