The French frigate „Clorinde“, c. 1814
Thomas Luny is one of the renowned English marine painters of his generation. He exhibited for the first time at the Society of Artists of Great Britain in 1777. From 1780 to 1793 his work was regularly exhibited at the Royal Academy, thereafter only in 1802 and the year of his death. His absence from the Academy‘s exhibitions after 1793 feeds the erroneous assumption that he was in the service of the navy during the Napoleonic conflict, but Luny‘s name does not appear in the Admiralty records. The painter is extremely productive and benefits from his dealer‘s nearness to the British East India Company, which is headquartered on the same street and acquires many paintings of Company ships. In 1807 he leaves London and moves to Teignmouth. This move is probably explained by the withdrawal of his patrons to the resort after the war, enabling him to continue to secure lucrative commissions. After 1807 he increasingly depicts the local coastal landscape. Luny suffered increasingly from arthritis in both hands from 1817 onwards, which did not prevent him from working, but did not allow him to work with the same quality of painting.
The painting shows the French frigate „Clorinde“ (1808) in battle with Buccaneers from Algiers. At that time, many merchant ships are exposed to attacks by North African pirates on their way through the Medi- terranean. Depictions like this show „retaliatory strikes“ against the „barbarian states“. The Royal Navy captured the „Clorinde“ from the French in 1814 and she entered service as the „Aurora“.