Lot 59

George Rose Sartorius
(British, 1790-1885)
'Belem Castle Tagus' 15.6 x 22.8cm. (6 1/8 x 9in.)

Marine Pictures

27 February 2007, 14:00 GMT

London, New Bond Street

Sold for £1,680 inc. premium

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George Rose Sartorius (British, 1790-1885)

'Belem Castle Tagus'
signed 'G.R.Sartorius'(lower right) and inscribed with title (lower left)
watercolour
15.6 x 22.8cm. (6 1/8 x 9in.)

Footnotes

Resembling a fortress and indeed often referred to as ‘Belem Castle’, this picturesque landmark was actually built as a fortified lighthouse and formed the apex of a triangle of three structures intended to guard the approaches to Lisbon. Begun by order of King Manuel I (1515-20) during the first year of his reign and completed in 1521, the tower originally stood on an island in the middle of the Tagus until the course of the river was diverted by an earthquake in 1777, resiting it to its present location adjacent to the northern bank. Designed by Diego and Francisco Arruda in the Manueline style – it is, in fact, Portugal’s only pure Manueline building – the tower is decorated with elaborate symbols of national as well as royal power including armillary spheres [King Manuel’s badge of honour], crosses of the Military Order of Christ and even some naturalistic elements such as a rhinoceros, the first such representation in stone known in Europe. Subsequently used as a prison and then a telegraph station, occupying French troops destroyed the upper two stories in 1807 and even though these were later reconstructed, Sartorius depicts the truncated tower just as it appeared to him and his contemporaries.

Captain (later Admiral) Sir George Rose Sartorius (1790-1855) had been present at Trafalgar, at the late surrender of Napoleon and had commanded the Portuguese Regency's fleet against the usurper Don Miguel during that country's upheavals from 1831-1833, an experience which, coupled with his earlier service in the Rio de la Plata in 1806, gave him a unique insight into Portuguese and South American affairs that exceeded that of any of his fellow officers.
This lot shows Sartorius's talent as an observer and watercolourist.

Additional information

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