The artist was well known for his scenes of naval and land battles. He set this work around the
Battle of Alexandria in March 1801, when a British army allied to the
Ottoman Empire defeated
French forces that had
invaded Egypt under
Napoleon Bonaparte three years earlier. Reminiscent of the battle scenes popularised by
Benjamin West's
Death of General Wolfe thirty years earlier, the painting focuses on the British high command while the battle rages in the background. The British commander
Ralph Abercromby, an experienced Scottish general, has been fatally wounded and is shown slumped back. Gathered around him are various other senior officers including his successor the Irish general
John Hely-Hutchinson as well as
Robert Anstruther,
John Moore,
John Abercromby,
Lord Ludlow,
Eyre Coote and the naval officer
Sir Sidney Smith. Hely-Hutchinson succeeded him as commander and oversaw the successful
Siege of Cairo that ended with a complete French surrender in Egypt. The work was displayed at the
Royal Academy's
Summer Exhibition of 1805 at
Somerset House. It is now in the collection of the
National Galleries of Scotland, having been purchased in 1986. Another artist Charles Orme also notably depicted the battle. ==See also==