HMS 'Valiant' and 'Invincible' from the deck of another capital ship RMG PV2766, William Lionel Wyllie, 1916

Hms 'valiant' and 'invincible' from the deck of another capital ship an indistinct inscription by the artist identifies this watercolour as a distant view of hms 'invincible' (1907) and a previous note suggest it is taken from the deck of a dreadnought of the 'orion' class. The only vessel that could possibly be the 'invincible' is the ship with the two heavy tripod masts beyond and obscured by the battery of turret guns. The battery of guns are all on the centre line but it is not possible to state firmly which class of ship wyllie was on because no british battleship had a stepped after superstructure as shown in this drawing. The battleship on the left has to be a unit of the 'queen elizabeth' class and only the 'valiant' had this arrangement of spars. 'valiant' completed in february 1916 and the 'invincible' blew up and sank at the battle of jutland on 31 may 1916, which suggest the drawing must date from thespring of that year, likely location being scapa flow or the forth. Date: 1916. Dimensions: 290 mm x 448 mm. Collection: Fine art.