Here are a collection of pictures relating to Admiral Duncan, the Battle of Camperdown and Camperdown House.

Grateful acknowledgement is given to the original artists and owners who have given permission for these pictures to be displayed.

Many of the pictures displayed here are taken from the book GLORIOUS VICTORY which is available at £9.95 from:  John Picton,  76 Hepburn Gardens,  St Andrews,  KY16 9LN john.picton@tesco.net

Admiral Duncan

Henri-Pierre Danloux (1753 - 1809) "Admiral Adam Duncan, 1st Viscount Camperdown, 1798"

This painting is Danloux's highly theatrical second portrait of Duncan which was conceived on an epic scale commensurate with the occasion and with the desire of Danloux, a French Royalist, to gain recognition as the equal of the late and much admired Sir Joshua Reynolds and as a "history" painter rather than a mere purveyor of likenesses.

Thanks to the National Galleries of Scotland.

The Battle of Camperdown

George Chambers senior (1803 - 1840) along with other artists, exploited the renewed topicality of Duncan's victory - his representation of the battle, although more diffuse and generalised in treatment, depicts the concluding engagement between Vryheid and the Venerable.

Chambers's rendering of the Battle of Camperdown is typical of the later paintings associated with the accession of William IV and may have been commissioned by Duncan's eldest son, the newly created Earl of Camperdown.

Thanks to the National Galleries of Scotland.

The Surrender

Copley Painting (1738-1815) "The Victory of Lord Duncan 1799"

In 1775 the Irish Bostonian John Singleton Copley had been drawn to London as the emergent art capital of the English speaking world. "The Victory of Lord Duncan" was the last of a series of 16 "speculative" works. Copley steeped himself in eye-witness accounts of the Battle and arranged for many of the seamen of the VENERABLE to sit for preparatory portraits in his London studio. Bought by Lady Mary Duncan for the Admiral, the painting finished up in a purpose-built position within Camperdown House around 1830 where it remained until 1996.

Thanks to National Galleries of Scotland.

(a) Struck about 1820, this Camperdown medal was one of the more remarkable products of private enterprise. The likeness of Duncan is based on Tassie's portrait cameo of 1797.

b) Stafforshire pearlware bust of Admiral Duncan made in 1798 by Chetham & Woolley of Lane End. This large bust would have been a relatively expensive commemorative souvenir.

(c) Duncan was still sufficiently newsworthy in 1798 to justify this Wedgwood production.

Thanks to the National Museums of Scotland.

Engraving by John Fairburn, published in July 1799, lauding Duncan as one of the four successful Admirals of the French Revolutionary Wars

Thanks to the National Museums of Scotland.

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