Ambroise-Louis Garneray (1783-1857), Phare de Mascate (Muscat, Oman)

Ambroise-Louis Garneray (1783-1857)
Phare de Mascate (Muscat, Oman)
signed 'L. Garneray.' (lower right), titled 'Phare de Mascate' on the stretcher
oil on canvas
151⁄8 x 181⁄4in. (38.4 x 46.4cm.)
Garneray’s 1849 exhibit at the Salon is probably a souvenir of his visit to Muscat on La Petite Caroline in 1802. Garneray had joined the Republican navy as a thirteen-year-old novice in 1796 and spent most of his early years at sea – his career as an artist only beginning after his capture on La Belle Poule off the Cape in March 1806 and subsequent imprisonment in England. Many of his subjects exhibited at the Salon were taken from his years at sea, both in the navy and on a variety of privateers working in the Indian Ocean. His adventures and travels were recalled in his memoirs, works written and published in his later years. Garneray's subject of fishermen on a low rock off the coast with Muscat beyond suggests this is probably 'Fishermans Rock' or 'Fisher's Rock', off the point of 'Ras Maskat', looking back past Muttrah to Muscat, a favoured anchorage from the evidence of the early East India Company and Royal Navy surveys of Muscat Cove. For the topography, see J. McCluer's 'Plan of Muscat Cove and Mutrah Harbour, surveyed in 1785', published by Alexander Dalrymple, which includes a profile of the rock, the surveyor W. Layman's manuscript 'Plan of Muskat' ('View of Muscat Cove from 15 fathoms Fishermans Rock EbS Decr 1787') published by Dalrymple in the East India Pilot for 1797, and Lieut. W.G. Benn's chart 'Maskat Cove ... HMS Philomel November 1916 Fisher's Rock Lat 23°37'55"N Long 58°35'58"E', the rock surveyed at 10 feet high. There are no descriptions of Garneray's 'phare' and ruined towers mounted on the rock in the early charts and narratives, suggesting they may be a picturesque device.

The artist recalled the coasting voyage out of Mauritius on the brick La Petite Caroline and his visit to Muscat in 1802 in his Voyages, aventures et combats: ‘La spéculation que devait tenter la Petite Caroline était tout bonnement un voyage de caravane, c’était le terme consacré. On donnait alors ce nom à un type d’expédition qui consistait à transporter des cargaisons de port en port et à revenir en rapportant la dernière de celles-ci à l’île de France. … En quittant Port-Maurice, nous nous dirigeâmes, avec un beau temps, vers la mer Rouge. Notre première relâche fut aux Seychelles, où nous arrêtâmes quelques jours pour prendre de l’eau et renouveler nos vivres. … Nos affaires à Seychelles étant terminées, nous entrâmes dans la mer Rouge et fûmes mouiller à Moka, puis de là à Mascate. L’iman de Mascate, du moins à cette époque, n’avait pas de marine et ne possédait pas un seul navire de guerre: sans ambition, il préférait le repos au conquêtes, et ne s’occupait que très peu du progrès de ses Etats. … De Mascate, passant par Surat et Bombay, nous fûmes mouiller à Goa. …’ (L. Garneray, Le Négrier de Zanzibar, Voyages, aventures et combats II, Paris, 1985, pp.10-16). The Petite Caroline was attacked by pirates after they sailed from Goa, and the ship lost. Garneray was rescued by the English corvette Victory and landed at Trincomalee. The Caton then took him to Madras and Calcutta before sailing back into the Indian Ocean, where Garneray disembarked at l’île Bourbon (Reunion).

Please note this lot is the property of a private individual.

Provenance

Private Collection, France.