Study of hms 'revenge', battleship
inscribed 'hms revenge' and signed by the artist, lower left. This a reasonably accurate drawing of the battleship 'revenge' (1915) showing her after november 1916 but before the fitting of coffee-box searchlight towers on the mainmast in 1917. She is wearing the flag of admiral sir charles edward madden who chose her as his flagship when he was appointed to command the 1st battle squadron of the grand fleet from 28 november 1916. He remained in command until april 1919 and wyllie was his guest on board 'revenge' for a month at the time of the surrender of the german high seas fleet to the grand fleet commander admiral beatty in the forth (21 november 1918), and its subsequent internment at scapa flow. This gave him opportunity to make many studies of those events. 'revenge' is here shown at anchor, off land likely to be at scapa, with her guns trained to starboard - almost certainly done at wyllie's request: see paf1818 which is an identically composed study of the 'iron duke'. As in that case, this may have been done here for use in pictures of the battle of jutland, but this drawing was itself reproduced in black and white as the last illustration in wyllie's co-authored book 'more sea fights of the great war' (1919), f. P. 154, with the one-word caption 'revenge'. While the chapter in question is an account of jutland and mentions the ship, madden was not in her there (though present as jellicoe's chief of staff in 'iron duke'): apart from the tangential jutland connection, the fact this particular drawing was included in the book, on moorings and inconspicuously flying madden's flag at a later date, may be a private compliment to him by wyllie. Date: 1916. Dimensions: Sheet: 248 mm x 349 mm; Mount: 15 3/4 in x 20 9/16 in. Collection: Fine art.
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