Print made by Gerard van der Gucht, 1696–1776, Britishafter Samuel Scott, 1701/2–1772, Britishand George Lambert, 1700–1765, BritishCommissioned by East India Company, 1600–1874, British
Title:
The Cape of Good Hope
Date:
1736
Materials & Techniques:
Line engraving with hand coloring in watercolor on medium, slightly textured, cream laid paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 19 5/16 × 26 inches (49 × 66 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1978.43.271
Gallery Label:
This image seems to have been based on a seventeenth-century painting of Table Bay, with the dominant image of Table Mountain in the background, the walled fortification and warehouses on the shore, and Dutch ships in the bay. The salute fired by the British ship in the foreground, signaling its arrival in port, focuses attention on the crucial role played by the settlement in maintaining the company’s commercial endeavors in Asia. The area around Cape Town was first settled by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, when it established a base there to provide its vessels with fresh provisions and water. By the eighteenth century, ships of all nations and companies were taking advantage of Cape Town’s harbor and onshore facilities. Gallery label for Spreading Canvas - Eighteenth-Century British Marine Painting (Yale Center for British Art, 2016-09-09 - 2016-12-04)