Lord Exmouth's Commission: Part 5 and Postscript
Title: Lord Exmouth's Commission: Remembrance, 1817
Author: Anteros
Characters: John Thomas Serres, Lord Exmouth, (Archie Kennedy).
Rating: R
Notes: John completes Lord Exmouth's commission.
Once John had located the sketch books the portrait progressed quickly and to his great satisfaction. He could still picture the young man so clearly, he barely had to glance at the fading sketches to see his broad smile, tawny hair and bright eyes shinning. But there he stopped. Kennedy had had the clearest, bluest eyes John had ever seen. He looked down at his palate. Lord Exmouth had been insistent that no expense should be spared on the commission and his generous advance had enabled John to purchase the finest pigments and colours; Prussian blue, cobalt and violet. He had even obtained a small cake of rare and precious ultramarine. But even this most sought after pigment couldn’t do justice to the cloudless blue of the young man’s eyes.
John stopped and stared at the painting, trying to remember what the young man had been looking at when he captured the original sketch. Suddenly the memory came back to him, causing him to snort with laughter; a strange sound in the silent studio. How could he have forgotten? Hornblower had been indulging his peculiarity for washing under the main deck pump and Kennedy, stationed above on the lee side of the quarterdeck, had been looking down at him laughing, eyes sparkling like the sea. That was it. Eyes that reflected the sea. John might never capture the impossible blue of Kennedy’s eyes but he had spent a lifetime painting the sea and he knew all her colours; Verona green, Paynes Grey, verdigris.
John completed the portrait late in the afternoon. He sat before his easel as the light faded, absorbed in the young man’s presence. It was dark when he roused himself and he had to light the lamps to re-read the detailed instructions Lord Exmouth had sent regarding the framing of the portrait. The frame was waiting beside the easel and John had already engraved with his own hand the label that was to accompany the portrait. It bore the inscription:
Lieutenant Archibald Kennedy, RN. Loyalty, love and grace.
“Many waters cannot quench love.”
He placed the portrait into the mount and inside the reverse of the frame carefully inscribed Lord Exmouth’s dedication:
Painted from sketches made on board Indefatigable by J.T. Serres.
Painted for Captain Sir Horatio Hornblower as the gift of Admiral Lord Exmouth 1817.
"neither can the floods drown it."
John laid down his quill and replaced the framed portrait on the easel. The young man smiled down at him. Loyalty, love and grace indeed. And somehow the very embodiment of hope. What remained of John’s hopes? Of Hornblower’s or of Exmouth’s? He could not say but neither could he deny that in the light of such love hope remained.
John removed the painting from the easel again, slipped the portrait from its frame and carefully removed the backing cloth. On the very back of the canvas he added his own dedication, in remembrance of the two young men, the light and the dark, and the hope they had embodied.
“Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm; for love is strong as death.”
Postscript
John Thomas Serres’ hopes regarding the Royal Coburg Theatre were short lived. By 1819 takings were falling and in order to repay his debts Serres had to forfeit any right to future profits from the theatre. The Royal Coburg Theatre survived its precarious birth and exists to this day as the prestigious Old Vic Theatre.
Olive’s increasingly outrageous claims to royal birth continued to blight Serres' reputation and damage his prospects and career. He was refused permission to accompany the Royal Yacht squadron to Scotland in 1822 and the king withdrew the last vestiges of royal patronage the same year. Another spell in debtors prison followed which did irreparable damage to Serres' health. Despite the efforts of his remaining friends, who succeeded in saving him from further incarceration, Serres died in 1825 at the age of 66. His funeral was paid for by the Society of Arts and John Thomas Serres lies buried with his parents at St Mary’s Church, Paddington.
Two years previously in 1823 Olive’s claim that she was the illegitimate daughter of the Duke of Cumberland, the younger brother of King George III, was thrown out of Parliament, which refused to sanction any official investigation into the allegations. The soi-disant “Princess Olive of Cumberland”, otherwise known as Mrs Olive Serres, died in penury in 1835 at the age of 62.
Lord Exmouth outlived John Serres by eight years. Edward Pellew died at his family home, West Cliff House, Teignmouth, in January 1833 at the age of 76. His biographer Edward Osler quotes an “officer who was often with him” as saying:
“I have seen him great in battle, but never so great as on his death-bed."
Pellew’s “dear Indy”, the razee frigate HMS Indefatigable, was broken up at Sheerness in 1816.
Archie Kennedy and Horatio Hornblower require no postscript.
Author: Anteros
Characters: John Thomas Serres, Lord Exmouth, (Archie Kennedy).
Rating: R
Notes: John completes Lord Exmouth's commission.
Once John had located the sketch books the portrait progressed quickly and to his great satisfaction. He could still picture the young man so clearly, he barely had to glance at the fading sketches to see his broad smile, tawny hair and bright eyes shinning. But there he stopped. Kennedy had had the clearest, bluest eyes John had ever seen. He looked down at his palate. Lord Exmouth had been insistent that no expense should be spared on the commission and his generous advance had enabled John to purchase the finest pigments and colours; Prussian blue, cobalt and violet. He had even obtained a small cake of rare and precious ultramarine. But even this most sought after pigment couldn’t do justice to the cloudless blue of the young man’s eyes.
John stopped and stared at the painting, trying to remember what the young man had been looking at when he captured the original sketch. Suddenly the memory came back to him, causing him to snort with laughter; a strange sound in the silent studio. How could he have forgotten? Hornblower had been indulging his peculiarity for washing under the main deck pump and Kennedy, stationed above on the lee side of the quarterdeck, had been looking down at him laughing, eyes sparkling like the sea. That was it. Eyes that reflected the sea. John might never capture the impossible blue of Kennedy’s eyes but he had spent a lifetime painting the sea and he knew all her colours; Verona green, Paynes Grey, verdigris.
John completed the portrait late in the afternoon. He sat before his easel as the light faded, absorbed in the young man’s presence. It was dark when he roused himself and he had to light the lamps to re-read the detailed instructions Lord Exmouth had sent regarding the framing of the portrait. The frame was waiting beside the easel and John had already engraved with his own hand the label that was to accompany the portrait. It bore the inscription:
Lieutenant Archibald Kennedy, RN. Loyalty, love and grace.
“Many waters cannot quench love.”
He placed the portrait into the mount and inside the reverse of the frame carefully inscribed Lord Exmouth’s dedication:
Painted from sketches made on board Indefatigable by J.T. Serres.
Painted for Captain Sir Horatio Hornblower as the gift of Admiral Lord Exmouth 1817.
"neither can the floods drown it."
John laid down his quill and replaced the framed portrait on the easel. The young man smiled down at him. Loyalty, love and grace indeed. And somehow the very embodiment of hope. What remained of John’s hopes? Of Hornblower’s or of Exmouth’s? He could not say but neither could he deny that in the light of such love hope remained.
John removed the painting from the easel again, slipped the portrait from its frame and carefully removed the backing cloth. On the very back of the canvas he added his own dedication, in remembrance of the two young men, the light and the dark, and the hope they had embodied.
“Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm; for love is strong as death.”
Postscript
John Thomas Serres’ hopes regarding the Royal Coburg Theatre were short lived. By 1819 takings were falling and in order to repay his debts Serres had to forfeit any right to future profits from the theatre. The Royal Coburg Theatre survived its precarious birth and exists to this day as the prestigious Old Vic Theatre.
Olive’s increasingly outrageous claims to royal birth continued to blight Serres' reputation and damage his prospects and career. He was refused permission to accompany the Royal Yacht squadron to Scotland in 1822 and the king withdrew the last vestiges of royal patronage the same year. Another spell in debtors prison followed which did irreparable damage to Serres' health. Despite the efforts of his remaining friends, who succeeded in saving him from further incarceration, Serres died in 1825 at the age of 66. His funeral was paid for by the Society of Arts and John Thomas Serres lies buried with his parents at St Mary’s Church, Paddington.
Two years previously in 1823 Olive’s claim that she was the illegitimate daughter of the Duke of Cumberland, the younger brother of King George III, was thrown out of Parliament, which refused to sanction any official investigation into the allegations. The soi-disant “Princess Olive of Cumberland”, otherwise known as Mrs Olive Serres, died in penury in 1835 at the age of 62.
Lord Exmouth outlived John Serres by eight years. Edward Pellew died at his family home, West Cliff House, Teignmouth, in January 1833 at the age of 76. His biographer Edward Osler quotes an “officer who was often with him” as saying:
“I have seen him great in battle, but never so great as on his death-bed."
Pellew’s “dear Indy”, the razee frigate HMS Indefatigable, was broken up at Sheerness in 1816.
Archie Kennedy and Horatio Hornblower require no postscript.