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Design for "The Three Captains Memorial"

ca. 1784
Not on view
A leading neoclassical sculptor, Nollekens was commissioned to design an important marble monument in Westminster Abbey to commemorate British naval valor in the recent Anglo-French war. Begun around 1784, and finally erected in 1793, the related 25 foot high monument remains on view in the north transept. It commemorates William Bayne, William Blair and Lord Robert Manners, three captains of the Royal Navy all killed during the Battle of Les Saintes in the West Indies, a four day conflict in 1782 known to the French as the Bataille de la Dominique. Relief portraits appear on a central column with the officers' names and ages inscribed, and the design is embelished with allegories of Fame, Neptune riding a seahorse, and Britannia supported by a lion. An inscribed plaque in the base credits Admiral Sir George Brydges Rodney as commander, and George III and Parliament for funding the monument.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Design for "The Three Captains Memorial"
  • Artist: Joseph Nollekens (British, London 1737–1823 London)
  • Sitter: Captain William Bayne (British, Edinburgh, Scotland 1730–1782 aboard HMS Alfred)
  • Sitter: Lord Robert Manners (British, 1758–1782)
  • Sitter: Captain William Blair (British, 1741–1782)
  • Date: ca. 1784
  • Medium: Watercolor over graphite, surrounded by a gold line, on paper backed by canvas (stretched on modern wooden frame)
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 31 11/16 × 26 in. (80.5 × 66 cm)
  • Classifications: Drawings, Ornament & Architecture
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Brooke Russell Astor Bequest, 2013
  • Object Number: 2013.540
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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