View source for The Sortie Made by the Garrison of Gibraltar

{{Short description|1789 painting by John Trumbull}}
{{Infobox artwork
| image_file=The Sortie Made by the Garrison of Gibraltar.jpg
| image_size=350px
| title=The Sortie Made by the Garrison of Gibraltar
| artist=[[John Trumbull]]
| year=1789
| medium=Oil-on-canvas
| height_metric=180.3
| width_metric=271.8
| height_imperial=71
| width_imperial=107
| metric_unit=cm
| imperial_unit=in
| museum = [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]
| city = [[New York City|New York]]
}}
'''''The Sortie Made by the Garrison of Gibraltar''''' (also called '''''The Sortie made by the Garrison of Gibraltar in the Morning of the 27 of November 1781'''''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/prints/viewPrint.cfm?ID=PAI5697|title=The Sortie made by the Garrison of Gibraltar in the Morning of the 27 of November 1781|publisher=Natural Maritime Museum|access-date=2007-08-06}}</ref>) is a 1789 [[oil painting|oil-on-canvas painting]] by  [[United States|American]] artist [[John Trumbull]]. The painting shows a key point in [[Gibraltar]]'s history when the [[Great Siege of Gibraltar]] was undertaken by the Spanish against the British at Gibraltar in November 1781.<ref name="c2">{{cite web|url=http://www.bostonathenaeum.org/trumbull.html|title=The Sortie Made by the Garrison of Gibraltar, 1789|publisher=Acquired Tastes-Trumbull|access-date=2007-08-06 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070928051721/http://www.bostonathenaeum.org/trumbull.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-09-28}}</ref> The Spanish officer [[Don Jose de Barboza]] is being given respect as he lies dying. Although left behind by his own retreating troops, he still unsuccessfully attacked the British troops with chivalry.<ref name="c2"/>
==Background==
{{further|Great Siege of Gibraltar}}
The painting is based on a historic battle that took place in [[Gibraltar]] on November 27, 1781.<ref>Bond, pages. 28-29</ref> The [[Great Siege of Gibraltar]] was an unsuccessful attempt by [[Spanish Empire|Spain]] and [[Early Modern France|France]] to capture Gibraltar from the [[British Empire|British]] during the [[American Revolutionary War|War of American Independence]].
==Painting==
[[Image:The Sortie Made by the Garrison of Gibraltar3.jpg|thumb|The dying Spanish officer [[José de Barboza]]]]
[[File:The Sortie Made by the Garrison of Gibraltar, by John Trumbull, 1788, oil on canvas - Cincinnati Art Museum - DSC04581.JPG|thumb|In the 1788 version at the [[Cincinnati Art Museum]], Barboza is in a slightly different pose, looking to the left, instead of down.]]
The painting depicts the events of the night 26 November 1781, when the [[British Army]] garrison in [[Gibraltar]] made a sudden [[sortie]] against Spanish artillery batteries during the [[Great Siege of Gibraltar]].<ref name="c1">{{cite web|url=http://www.davidrumsey.com/amico/amico956313-104701.html|title=John Trumbull - The Sortie Made by the Garrison of Gibraltar 1789|publisher=Art Museum Images from Cartography Associates|access-date=2007-08-06}}</ref> The death of [[Spanish Army]] officer [[José de Barboza]] is the focal point of the painting.<ref name="c1"/> He fell mortally wounded and died near his post, refusing assistance after having been abandoned by his troops.<ref name="c1"/> He is portrayed as rejecting the aid of General [[George Augustus Eliott, 1st Baron Heathfield|George Eliott]], commander of the British garrison in Gibraltar.<ref name="c1"/> In 1782, the siege was lifted, and Trumbull's friend Antonio de Poggi, an artist and dealer based in [[London]] who had been in the besieged garrison, told him of an earlier incident, which had occurred in November 1781.<ref name="c3">{{cite web|url=http://antiqbook.com/boox/don/03351.shtml|title=The Sortie Made by the Garrison of Gibraltar in the Morning of the 27 of November 1781|publisher=AntiQbook|access-date=2007-08-06}}</ref>
This had all the ingredients he sought:
{{quote|...the Heroism of the vanquished, the Humanity of the Victors - the darkness of night illuminating an extensive conflagration - the Hurry and Tumult of the troops busy in the work of destruction - the quiet & calm of the Officers, the guiding Spirits of the Scene.<ref name="c3"/>}}
Furthermore, Trumbull had been engaged in a series of paintings based on the American Revolution, which had been criticized in London. He saw the subject of the Siege as one with which he could demonstrate that he supported British heroism as well:
{{quote|...and as I knew by painting them [his American history paintings], I had given offense to some extra-patriotic people in England, I now resolved to exert my utmost talent upon the Gibraltar, to show that noble and generous actions, by whomsoever performed, were the objects to whose celebration I meant to devote myself.<ref>{{cite book|last=Trumbull|first=John|title=The Autobiography of Colonel John Trumbull|year=1970|publisher=Da Capo Press|page=149}}</ref>}}
Trumbull labored on the composition, over many sketches and three large completed canvases.<ref name="c3" /> As the project progressed, Trumbull's ambitions for it to be his big breakthrough to major patronage grew too.<ref name="c3" /> He refused large offers for the picture, preferring to exhibit it privately for admission fees.<ref name="c3"/>
[[Horace Walpole]] called the painting:
{{quote|the finest picture [he] had ever seen painted on the northern side of the Alps.<ref name="c3"/>}}
The painting is depicted on the back of the 2010 Gibraltar 10-pound note.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://banknote.ws/COLLECTION/countries/EUR/GIB/GIB0036.htm |title = P-36}}</ref> The prominent individuals highlighted in this composition are the dying Barboza and to his right, from left to right: [[George Mackenzie (British Army officer)|George Mackenzie]], Eliott, [[George Koehler]], [[Roger Curtis]] and [[Thomas Trigge]].<ref name=courcelle>{{cite book|last=Courcelle|first=René Chartrand. Illustrated by Patrice|title=Gibraltar 1779 - 1783 : the great siege|year=2006|publisher=Osprey|location=Oxford|isbn=1841769770|page=52|edition=[Online-Ausg.]}}</ref>
==See also==
* ''[[The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 1782]]'', painting by [[John Singleton Copley]]
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
==References==
{{commons category|The Sortie Made by the Garrison of Gibraltar}}
*{{cite book |last=Bond |first=Peter |title=300 Years of British Gibraltar 1704-2004 |year=2003 |edition=1st |publisher=Peter-Tan Publishing Co. |location=Gibraltar |pages=28–29 |chapter=Gibraltar's Finest Hour The Great Siege 1779-1783 }}
{{John Trumbull}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sortie Made by the Garrison of Gibraltar, The}}
[[Category:1789 paintings]]
[[Category:Paintings about the American Revolution]]
[[Category:Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art]]
[[Category:Paintings by John Trumbull]]
[[Category:1781 in Gibraltar]]