Robert Dodd

ROBERT DODD 1748 - London - 1815 Robert Dodd was one of the principal recorders of naval actions in the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary Wars. He did meticulous research for his battle paintings and was very accurate in his depiction of the details of ships and conditions at sea. Robert’s brother Ralph Dodd (1756?-1822) was also a painter. From about 1783 Robert engraved over a hundred of his paintings in aquatint and as a result his work gained a wide audience. Dodd exhibited at the Society of Artists in 1780, giving his address as 33 King James’s Stairs, Wapping. From 1782 to 1809 he exhibited at the Royal Academy. Dodd’s masterpiece is the large (76 x 134 in / 193 x 340 cm) painting of Lord Howe’s famous victory over the French, The end of the battle of the First of June 1794, which was painted in situ to hang in the dining room of his local inn, the Half Way House in the Commercial Road (1795; National Maritime Museum, Greenwich). His sequel to The Battle of the Saints, The shortening sail at the approach of the fatal hurricane, 1782, shows the storm which destroyed the captured Ville de Paris and the English flagship Ramillies escorting the French prizes back to England (National Maritime Museum, Greenwich). The work of Robert Dodd is represented in the United States Naval Museum, Annapolis and the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.