'Huns on the Clyde'- a visiting German squadron led by the battleship 'Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm', 1898 RMG PV0006, William Lionel Wyllie, circa 1898

'huns on the clyde': a visiting german squadron led by the battleship 'kurfürst friedrich wilhelm', 1898 inscribed, lower right, as title. An unfinished watercolour wash study, of four german ships arriving, with another smaller warship beyond against the land. On thursday, 12 may 1898, the german battleships 'kurfürst friedrich wilhelm' (1891), 'brandenburg' (1891), 'weissenburg' (1891) and 'wörth' (1892) and the cruiser/despatch vessel 'hela' (1895) arrived off greenock on the clyde from queenstown (now cobh, ireland). They sailed for kirkwall on tuesday 17 may 1898. The four battleships are sailing in the order given above with the flagship 'kurfürst friedrich wilhelm' leading. The 'hela' is presumably the smaller vessel beyond. The now rather offensive title is interesting in demonstrating the anti-german feeling of the period well before the first world war, during the naval arms race of the 1890s that was one of its harbingers - though one cannot now know when wyllie wrote it. Date: circa 1898. Dimensions: 252 mm x 353 mm. Collection: Fine art.