The Battle of La Hogue

Benjamin West

National Gallery of Art

We hover low over a body of choppy water in front of several rowboats filled to capacity with light-skinned men jostling and fighting each other amid larger wooden ships in this horizontal painting of a naval battle. The water transitions from tan and pale green near us to sage green in the background. A few of the men are bare-chested but most wear a wide range of colorful military uniforms or the full-sleeved shirts of sailors. A few vignettes within the bustling, action-filled boats draw our attention. For instance, at the center of the hubbub, two men wearing white shirts lean over the stern of a crowded boat, pulling two submerged men out of the water. Three other men float nearby, only their heads peeking above the water. In the same boat, another rescuer reaches for a man in the water, while yet another has pulled an unconscious or lifeless man into his arms. That rowboat bumps into several others filled with men weilding swords, long muskets, and perhaps spears. Much of the activity swirls around two men who stand in the boats to our right. One man wearing a fawn-brown uniform with gold embellishments, a white neck cloth, and a brown hat with red feathers brandishes a sword as he seizes the shirttails of a man wearing blue. The man in blue steps into another boat and clutches the mast as he raises his own sword up over his head. With eyes and mouth wide open, he looks over his shoulder toward the man in brown. Boats to our left are also filled with men but they sit in orderly rows. One man wearing a rust-orange suit and white plumed hat holds a sword in front of his body and raises his other pointer finger. A man blows a long horn behind the standing man. Other rowboats fill the space behind these, and surround three large wooden, ornately carved and decorated ships beyond. The carved insignia of the rightmost ship looms close to us along the right edge of the canvas; boats swarm around another ship in the distance at center; and flame and smoke billow from the ship to our left.