A contemporary bronze bust of one of the world’s greatest Naval heroes is being donated to the Malta Maritime Museum during Robert Hornyold-Strickland’s debut sculpture exhibition in Malta – 16th – 28th November

A contemporary bronze bust of Nelson by anglo-maltese sculptor Robert Hornyold-Strickland is to be unveiled by Mario de Marco, Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism, the Environment and Culture, during a private view at Strickland’s debut Maltese sculpture exhibition in the Malta Maritime Museum in Birgu on the 16th of November. The exhibition, held in collaboration with Heritage Malta and the Malta Maritime Museum will be open to the public from the 17th of November through to the 28th of November.

There will be a free Nelson lecture at the Museum by renowned academic Dr Stephanie Jones entitled ‘The Likeness of Nelson,’ on Thursday, the 18th of November (7.30-8.30pm); this will be open to the public.

Robert Hornyold-Strickland, the son of a British naval officer and a figurative sculptor, decided to produce a new bust of Nelson to show Britain’s most honoured naval hero as he really looked rather than the romanticized vision so often portrayed in paintings and sculptures by earlier generations.

Robert Strickland, originally from Sizergh Castle in Cumbria, and the great nephew of The Hon Mabel Strickland, and great grandson of Lord Strickland, undertook the challenge to produce a contemporary bronze of Admiral Lord Nelson to commemorate his staggering naval achievements, including blockading Malta to assist the Maltese in removing French occupiers. The life size bust of the great Admiral will take pride of place in Malta’s Maritime Museum’s Nelson collection and has been gifted partly by Robert Strickland and with the generous support of a number of sponsors, including Gasan Mamo Insurance, Simons Farsons Cisk, Delicata Wines, and The Phoenicia Hotel.

During the blockade of Malta (1798 – 1800) Admiral Lord Nelson was tasked with defending Malta, Gibraltar and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. This blockade was kept up for nearly two years without a break, forcing the eventual surrender by the French in 1800.

Robert Strickland comments on his initial research that, “with the benefit of the internet, books and the best maritime brains in Portsmouth and Greenwich, it became clear that the best likeness would be achieved by studying the life mask produced in Vienna in late August or early September 1800 by Matthias Ranson and used by Franz Christian Thaller for the production of his famous marble bust which is dated 1801.” This mask, which has been authenticated only in recent years, shows Nelson with his eyes closed to enable the wax to form an impression without damaging his eyes and a second mask was produced from the first showing his eyes open. These fascinating masks are now in the collections of the Royal Naval Museum in Portsmouth and the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.

Strickland, when asked about the painstaking research he undertook over a period of nearly a year comments, “Nelson was promoted to Vice Admiral in January 1801 before the Vienna bust was completed but having satisfied myself that the first mask was undoubtedly the best likeness I could get of Nelson himself, I decided to use it to depict Nelson a few years later on the eve of the battle of Trafalgar in 1805.”

Strickland’s next challenge was to interpret the photographs he had taken of the facial mask and his observations into a complete contemporary bronze bust of Nelson, ensuring at the same time uniform details were accurate. Fortunately he was able to undertake this with the help of the museums at Portsmouth and Greenwich, their extensive archives, published books on Nelson and contemporary fashion trends and from artefacts and personal mementoes gathered for the bicentennial exhibition of 2005 held in Greenwich. Strickland decided not to portray Nelson wearing his traditional naval hat but rather sculpting him with a ‘queue’ or pigtail held in place by a piece of cloth tied in a bow, as was the fashion in those days. (After Nelson’s death his queue was cut off and has been preserved for posterity). Strickland also deduced, through research, that, due to Nelson’s undoubted vanity, he wore his hair low over his right eyebrow to hide the scar from an injury incurred during the Battle of the Nile on August 1st, 1798 . All of these points have been incorporated into the finished artwork.

A leading portrait sculptor Robert Hornyold-Strickland, studied sculpture at the Heatherley School of Art in Chelsea, London, before moving to Bath and Malta. He now divides his time between both places where he principally undertakes private commissions of portrait and figurative bronze sculptures, many of which will be on sale at his exhibition. His work has been exhibited in Cork Street, London, Polo Ralph Lauren’s flagship store in Bond Street, and galleries in Bath, Edinburgh, and Harrogate.

The history of Nelson in Malta

· The French landed on Malta, 10 June 1798. In September of the same year the Maltese rebelled against the French occupation after the Battle of the Nile. The Maltese insurrectionist forces had forced the French to withdraw to Valletta and the Three Cities around the Grand Harbour.

· In the first days of the blockade of Malta, the island leaders assessed they were not strong enough to force the French to surrender the harbour cities without the aid of overseas navies. Immediately they sent an envoy to the Court of Naples to ask for support from King Ferdinand IV of the two Sicilies and British allies and also to supply the Maltese with arms.

· On 12th September 1798 the Maltese sent a missive to Admiral Lord Nelson, who responded immediately.

· On October 12, 1798, with orders from the British Admiralty, Nelson dispatched forces under the command of Captain Alexander John Ball, R.N., of HMS Alexander and another Portuguese Squadron under Rear Admiral Marquis de Niza. Their orders were to blockade Malta’s harbours with the 32-gun frigate Terpsichore, and the 20-gun sloop Bonne Citoyenne with the aid of 500 British and Portuguese marines.

· Captain Ball was then instructed to take command of the Maltese forces – about 2,000 Maltese troops along with about 1,500 irregulars. These poor souls were unpaid, ill equipped and half-starving; The British Royal Navy bestowed all power of command to Nelson to bring the whole campaign together.

· In the Autumn of 1799, Nelson’s navy was off Valletta and a demand for surrender was made to the French. The French Naval commander Vaubois, was still hoping for relief from France, so summarily rejected this demand, saying he was “resolved to defend this fortress to the last”.

·Between 1798 and 1799. Lady Emma Hamilton felt the plight of the Maltese so desperately, personally intervening to request the assistance of her majesty the Queen of Naples to beseech her husband the King to send supplies and grain to the starving people of Malta.

· Sir Thomas Troubridge also arrived in Malta with 1,200 Neapolitan troops, the first substantial foreign aid given to the Maltese in addition to the existing British naval assistance.

· On October 28 1799, Gozo was surrendered by the French to the British. Vaubois’s forces were now besieged in Valletta, as British ships maintained the strangulation of the blockade.

· British and Neapolitan reinforcements arrived throughout 1800, supplemented by the local Maltese regiments on the ground.

· However, as time wore on, essential provisions were running out with a desperate Maltese population on the verge of famine. The blockade was now becoming a feat of endurance, seeing which side could stave off hunger to the last.

· The French on the other hand waited in vain for supplies. On February 6, 1800 Napoleon responded with a convoy being sent from France with some 3,000 men, with arms, food and munitions. The expedition never made it through being intercepted two weeks later off Lampedusa island by the British navy.

· By the end of the summer the blockade of Malta was nearing its end. The French garrison had eaten all the island horses, mules, cats and dogs and even the rats of Valletta.

· On September 4, 1800, desperate with starving troops, the French commander Vaubois sent an emissary under a flag of truce to the British commander to negotiate terms of surrender.

· By October 1800, a month later, the British offered the French fair terms for surrender including the right to keep their arms and spoils with their commander allowed to be repatriated to France.

· Nelson, being granted home leave after the blockade, initially sailed from Naples with Sir William and Lady Hamilton on a brief ‘cruise’ around Malta aboard the Foudroyant in April 1800. It was on this voyage that Horatio and Emma’s illegitimate daughter Horatia was probably conceived.

The 21st October is known as Trafalgar Day – the day Admiral Lord Nelson was shot and killed at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 at the moment of Victory.

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