"The Deadly Blow" - HMS Victory at Trafalgar

Oil on Linen Canvas

26 x 36 inches (66 x 91.5 cm)

Signed & dated, lower right

SOLD

This magnificent painting is one of the great Geoff Hunt pictures of Trafalgar. It could be said to be his last word on the great battle, in the sense that this canvas depicts the culminating moment of Nelson’s plan, as the flagship HMS Victory is at last able to strike back at the enemies who have tormented her with gunfire during her long approach to the opposing fleet’s lines.

Perhaps no artist has painted as many aspects of Trafalgar as Geoff Hunt has. Because of Geoff’s meticulous research it is almost certain that no painter has understood the battle so profoundly.

Concentrating as it does on the great first broadside that devastated the French ship Bucentaure, the painting shows the symbolic moment when the balance of that high-stakes battle changed in the favour of Britain and Nelson. Of course, there is another story as well. Not long after this great moment, Lord Nelson was shot and he died later that afternoon at the moment of complete victory. This stupendous thunder of Victory’s port guns was both his highest point as a commander and the moment when the admiral’s legend was truly born – the Immortal Memory that we recall over two hundred years later.

On the left of the painting, through the gunsmoke, we see ships of Collingwood's Lee Column moving up to the attack.

COMMISSIONING GEOFF HUNT

At Marine Artists one of our main specialities is commissioning great marine and historical paintings forclients and collectorsall over the world

To commission your own painting from Geoff Hunt, contact Charles Mayescm@marineartists.co.ukand we will post or email you a free pack of information including our short guides "Commissioning a Painting from Geoff Hunt" and "Price Guide and Timescale"