TRAFALGAR ON CANVAS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3059, 2 December 1908, Page 3

TRAFALGAR ON CANVAS.

JL number of fine pictures commemorate incidents at the battle of Trafalgar, but says the London "Daily Telegraph," the nation is stiil -without a complete and consecutive yecord on canvas of the events of October 21st, 1805. It is not surprising that this should be so, when the scope of the battle is considered. It lasted from before noon almost to sunset, it covered four miles of sea, and in it were engaged sixty t*hips of the line, besides smaller vessels. An attempt to supplv this want has been made by Chevalier de Martino, marine i painter to the King. Chevalifcr de Martino is particularly well fitted to paint such pictures. The son of an Italian, naval officer, ne studied in the Naval Academy at Naples before Italy was united, and for the last forty years has seen, "with the eyes of an artist and of a sailor, all the pageantry of British naval power. He has been working for fourteen years, as occasion served, on a series of six pictures of tne great fight, a picture of the Battle of St. Vincent, and one <?f the struggle in Aboukir Bay. The archives of Paris, Naples, and Madrid have been' ransacked for material, the treasures of the Admiralty have been placed at His disposal, and he has had the advice of a veteran who built ships in the days before wood and sails were ousted from the Navy. The pictures show the scene at the firing of the first shot, the Royal Sovereign bearing down on the Santa Anna—the manoeuvre which drew from Nelson the comment, "See how that noble fellow Colling•wooi takes his ship v into action!"— the Victory alongside the Redoubtable, the Achilles burning after the explosion, the Euryalus towing the crippled Royal Sovereign after the battle, and finally, "The Close of the Day," in which the two flagships of the allies, the Bucentaur and the Santissima Trinidad, stand out boldly as emblems of defeat. The series present a vivid and aCJrate, if incomplete, record of fight. The question arises, where are they to be kept? The "Telegraph" suggests that they be hung in one of the naval colleges, to be an inspiration to future generations of officers, but it would be a pity if they were placed where they could not easily be seen by any citizen of the Empire ona visit to the Motherland. As time goes on it becomes more avid more difficult to immortalise Trafalgar on canvas, and it is unlikely that there will be another artist with Chevalier de Martino's enthusiasm and qualifications. It is to be hoped that the series will find a home in London.