MONAMY's PORTO BELLO ILLUSTRATIONS These closely related sketches were obviously relied on by Monamy for the three versions of his type b Porto Bello paintings shown on this page. There are almost bound to be yet more related versions of both types a and type b. There is a slight mystery attaching to the two smaller ships accompanying the fabled six men o'war. These are depicted sailing merrily in the sketches, and in one of the a types; but in all the type b versions what looks like one of them seems to be sunk or sinking, rather oddly and inexplicably. The variations in the above three paintings are most easily seen in the cloud formations, but there are many other small differences of detail. battle pages © Charles Harrison Wallace 2003
Type B
sketch one
sketch two 
31½ x 45½; inscribed on back "Painted by P.Monamy". Luard Sale; Sotheby, 11th Dec, 1929
32 x 47. "From a drawing by Capt.P.Durell. It bears his name and the date 1739"
Sale catalogue, c 1935 ?
monamy type a
monamy type b
porto bello picture tiles
monamy website index
top
all rights reserved