'On board a light cruiser, six inch gun in action'; probably on the 'Aurora' at the Battle of the Dogger Bank, 24 January 1915 RMG PW1840, William Lionel Wyllie

'on board a light cruiser, six inch gun in action'; probably on the 'aurora' at the battle of the dogger bank, 24 january 1915 inscribed, as title, and signed by the artist, 'w l wyllie from nature', lower right. This is a fairly finished drawing of a scene on an 'arethusa'-class light cruiser which is beyond reasonable doubt the 'aurora' (1913), since a related one in colour wash (paf1849) is almost identical and titled 'aurora 6" gun in action dogger bank'. The present monochrome version was certainly reproduced by wyllie in his and m. F wren's sea fights of the great war' (1918), f. P. 136, as one of the illustrations to its account of that battle so may well have been done specifically for that purpose. The 'aurora' briefly engaged the german light cruiser 'kolberg' (1908) of the 2nd scouting group in the early morning of 24 january 1915 and started the action that became known as the battle of dogger bank. Wyllie was, of course, not present at the action and the related drawing mentioned is a preliminary study, probably done from watching a practice drill. Date: 1915. Dimensions: Sheet: 271 mm x 439 mm; card sheet: 402 mm x 559 mm. Collection: Fine art.