Napoleonic Wars (1803-15)
Views of naval engagements and maps of battles
View of Coimbra, c.1811
published 18 Aug 1815Aquatint with etching and engraving; printed on paper; hand coloured; edged with paper | 37.0 x 50.8 cm (image) | RCIN 735155.h
This view looks north-west towards the plain beyond Coimbra. The two parts of the city, seen here on each side of the River Mondego, are linked by the Ponte de Santa Clara. The city had been captured in 1810 by the French who made a base, leaving their sick and wounded there. In October 1810, Nicholas Trant (1769-1839), a Captain in the Royal Staff Corps, and Brigadier-General in the Portuguese army, to which he was assigned, recaptured Coimbra with his Portuguese troops, taking 5,000 prisoners in what has been described as 'the most daring enterprise by any partisan force during the entire war'. Trant was made Governor of the city and remained there during the winter of 1810-1811.
This is one of a set of twelve prints in the K.Mil. collection (RCINs 735155.a-m) of the principal occurrences of the campaigns in Spain and Portugal in 1810 and 1811 after paintings by Thomas Staunton St Clair. For more information on this set, see RCIN 735155.
For further reading, see:
E.M. Lloyd, 'Trant, Nicholas (1769–1839)', Dictionary of National Biography, 2004; online edition 2011.
Condition: no fold lines.
Thomas Staunton St Clair (1785-1847) (artist) [bottom left, below edge of view:] Major T. S.t Clair pinx.t
Charles Turner (1774-1857) (engraver and publisher) [bottom right, below edge of view:] C. Turner Sculpt
Josiah Boydell (18 January 1752-27 March 1817) (publisher)
John Booth (active 1794-1840) (publisher)
Colnaghi & Co (c.1785-1911) (publisher)
Anthony Molteno (active 1783-1830) (publisher)
Rudolph Ackermann (1764-1834) [bottom centre, below title:] London. Pub.d Aug.t 18th 1815, by C. Turner 50 Warren Street, Fitzroy Square; Mess.rs Colnaghi & C.o Cockspur St.t; M.r Ackerman, Strand; Mess.rs Boydell & C.o Cheapside & M.r Booth, Duke Street, Portland Chapel.
Watermark: None
Condition: no fold lines
33.9 x 50.8 cm (neatline)
37.0 x 50.8 cm (image)
42.5 x 58.0 cm (platemark)
44.0 x 60.7 cm (sheet)
Printed title:
CITY OF COIMBRA. [bottom centre, below view]
Annotations:
(Recto) [bottom left:] G.3.; XV-155-h; [above title, black pencil, in an early nineteenth-century hand:] N.o 8. (Verso) [top right, black pencil:] 34; [bottom right, black pencil, obscured by paper edging:] 21/; [centre, black pencil:] 1811-34.
George III catalogue entry:
Spain Twelve Views of the principal occurences of the Campaigns of 1810 and 1811 in Spain and Portugal: by Major T. S.t Clair, engraved by C. Turner, 1812-15.
Bibliographic reference(s)
E.M. Lloyd, ‘Trant, Nicholas (1769–1839)’, rev. Gordon L. Teffeteller, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2011
Page revisions
21 July 2024
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