'the german high seas fleet caged in scapa'
inscribed, as title, and signed by the artist, lower left, this shows the surrendered german high seas fleet at anchor in scapa flow in the orkney islands off northern scotland at the end of the first world war. The german vessels have also been identified by wyllie outside the pencil framing of the image (which suggests it was for reproduction): from centre to right they are the 'friedrich der grosse', 'bayern', 'emden', 'frankfurt', 'könig albert' and 'grosser kurfürst'. The name on the extreme right remains to be clarified. The vessels on the left are british trawlers (used to manage boom defences), and in the foreground the boom containing the ships in the flow is covered in seabirds, which also fill the sky above. Further overhead are a flying boat and two seaplanes. The german fleet had surrendered under the terms of the armistice and was ordered to the british naval base at scapa flow while its fate was discussed. It arrived there by the end of november 1918 but as discussions dragged on its commander, admiral ludwig von reuter, became increasingly anxious that it would be divided among the allied powers. On 19 june 1919, in a carefully co-ordinated operation, the interned ships opened their sea-cocks. Fifty-two out of 74 sank, though british guard ships managed to put others ashore to prevent this. The majority were later raised and scrapped, though a few remain and are today popular diving sites. In this image wyllie has cleverly juxtaposed the conclusion of war and the return of peace, as the trawlers (even if still in naval use) and gulls begin to reclaim their natural habitat from the weapons of war beyond. Pae0057 is a less developed watercolour version of this subject and both relate closely to to wyllie's large oil with almost exactly the same title ('the german high sea fleet caged in scapa flow'), now in the ministry of defence art collection. This may be a replica version intended for reproduction, perhaps as an etching (though, if so, the museum does not have one): pae0057 is certainly a preliminary study related to the oil. Date: circa 1918. Dimensions: 177 mm x 436 mm. Collection: Fine art.
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