Lot 95: Daniel Turner (fl.1782-1801)

View of Horatio Nelson's funeral procession on the River Thames, from a storehouse on the River, passing under London Bridge and before St. Paul's Cathedral
signed and dated 'DANL/TURNER/1806' (on a barrell, lower right)
oil on panel
13 3/4 x 20 7/8 in. (35 x 53 cm.)

This picture shows Horatio Nelson's funeral procession passing under London Bridge, to the right, and in front of St. Paul's, to the left, where the body would ultimately be laid to rest. The black velvet-shrouded funeral barge, identifiable by the black ostrich feathers surmounting the canopy erected over its stern, was accompanied by a large flotilla of over sixty boats, including the barge of the Lord Mayor, admiralty and city livery barges. Boats of the Sea Fencibles, a corps of naval coastal defence reserves, lined the route, flying red ensigns and firing minute guns to mark the barge's passage.
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount was killed at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805. Rather than being buried at sea, as was the usual practice for those killed in battle, his body was preserved and brought back to London for a State Funeral. It was placed in a four layered coffin: the inner layer made of wood taken from the mainmast of the French flagship L'Orient, destroyed during Nelson's victory at the Battle of the Nile in 1798; the outer lay a gilt casket decorated with scenes from Nelson's life and victories, designed by the Ackermann brothers. On 8th January 1806, Nelson's body was taken from the Painted Hall at the Royal Hospital for Seamen at Greenwich, where it had lain in state for three days (5-7 January 1806), and was placed on a royal barge, originally made for King Charles II, for its procession up the River Thames to the Admiralty in Whitehall. On 9 January, the coffin was mounted on an ornate funeral car, designed to resemble HMS Victory, and processed along the streets to St. Paul's Cathedral for the funeral service and burial.

Daniel Turner executed a number of paintings of Nelson's funeral, from various viewpoints along the River, which were dispersed in prints. Examples can be found in collections at the National Maritime Museum, Guildhall Art Gallery and Museum of London.

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