![[Claude de Forbin] Le Comte de Forbin.](jpegs/43214.jpg)
[Claude de Forbin] Le Comte de Forbin. Amiral de Siam du num d'Opra Sac Disom Cram, Chef d'Escadre des Armées Navalles de sa Majesté, Chevalier de l'ordre Militaire de Saint Louis.
[n.d., c.1730.]
Engraving. Sheet 120 x 80mm (4¾ x 3¼"). Trimmed to printed border.
A portrait of Claude de Forbin-Gardanne (1656-1733) while in the service of the king of Siam, when he was grand admiral, general of all the king's armies and governor of Bangkok. Although the story sounds like a novel inspired by 'Baron Munchausen', Forbin did indeed hold these titles: he stayed on for two years after the first French embassy to Siam, 1685. This portrait was a frontispiece to his memoirs. That was not the only remarkable event in his life. He had been a musketeer but had been sentenced to death after a duel; reprieved he joined the Navy under his brother's identity. After his return from Siam he fought in the Nine Years' War, escaping from custody in Plymouth (1689) to fight at the Battle of Beachy Head (1690), Barfleur (1692) where he was wounded, the Battle of Lagos (1693), and the Siege of Barcelona (1697). During the War of the Spanish Succession his successes included fighting in the Battle of the Lizard (1707) in which the French destroyed an English convoy, capturing 60 merchantman and four ships of the line out of 80 ships. His final claim-to-fame was transporting Prince James Francis Edward Stuart, the 'Old Pretender', to Scotland for his ill-fated attempt to regain the throne, only to be thwarted by Admiral Sir George Byng's fleet.
[Ref: 43214] £220.00
Engraving. Sheet 120 x 80mm (4¾ x 3¼"). Trimmed to printed border.
A portrait of Claude de Forbin-Gardanne (1656-1733) while in the service of the king of Siam, when he was grand admiral, general of all the king's armies and governor of Bangkok. Although the story sounds like a novel inspired by 'Baron Munchausen', Forbin did indeed hold these titles: he stayed on for two years after the first French embassy to Siam, 1685. This portrait was a frontispiece to his memoirs. That was not the only remarkable event in his life. He had been a musketeer but had been sentenced to death after a duel; reprieved he joined the Navy under his brother's identity. After his return from Siam he fought in the Nine Years' War, escaping from custody in Plymouth (1689) to fight at the Battle of Beachy Head (1690), Barfleur (1692) where he was wounded, the Battle of Lagos (1693), and the Siege of Barcelona (1697). During the War of the Spanish Succession his successes included fighting in the Battle of the Lizard (1707) in which the French destroyed an English convoy, capturing 60 merchantman and four ships of the line out of 80 ships. His final claim-to-fame was transporting Prince James Francis Edward Stuart, the 'Old Pretender', to Scotland for his ill-fated attempt to regain the throne, only to be thwarted by Admiral Sir George Byng's fleet.
[Ref: 43214] £220.00