Lot 449: The Battle of Manila Bay, 1 May 1898

Dr Alfonso Sanz (fl.1890s)
The Battle of Manila Bay, 1 May 1898
signed and dated 'A Sanz Manila 99.' (lower left)
oil on canvas
35 5/8 x 76in. (90.4 x 193cm.)

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 17.5% on the buyer's premium.
There are companion works to the present picture by Sanz in the Army and Navy Club, Washington DC: 'The Battle of Manila Bay' painted by Sanz when in Manila and 'The Battle of Santiago' painted at Ferrol, the Spanish historic naval base. The sketch for the present work is on file in the Naval Historical Foundation collection of Admiral Montgomery M Taylor, USN Sanz, a Spanish Surgeon and marine artist, is said to have made sketches for the present picture on the deck of the Spanish flagship.

The Battle of Manila Bay was the first action in the Spanish-American War. It was a decisive action, with Dewey's American Asiatic Squadron effectively routing Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasarón's Spanish Pacific Squadron: 'Before dawn on 1 May 1898, Commodore George Dewey's flagship Olympia led seven U.S. Navy cruisers and gunboats into Manila Bay. By 8am that morning Dewey's Asiatic Squadron had located and destroyed virtually the entire Spanish naval force in the Philippines. Damage to the American ships was negligible, and their crews suffered no fatalities and few injuries. The Battle of Manila Bay was a singular demonstration of the daring and decisive application of sea power. In a few hours, Dewey had eliminated any threat that the Spanish Navy might pose to U.S. Far Eastern commerce and placed Spain's centuries-long rule of the Philippines in grave jeopardy.' (Department of the Navy, Naval Historical Center, Online Library)

Only 109 days after the outbreak of war, the Treaty of Paris, which ended the conflict, gave the United States ownership of the former Spanish colonies of Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam, and the United States occupied Cuba, ending the insurrection and expelling the Spanish.