Monbars Leader of Buckaneers
Picture
1810 (made)
1810 (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
This picture was made using a technique of marquetry known as straw-work. It was probably executed in about 1810, during the Napoleonic Wars, by a French inmate at the world's first purpose-built prisoner-of-war camp, at Norman Cross, near Peterborough. It depicts the 17th century French gentleman-buccaneer Daniel Montbars (born 1645), better known to history as 'Montbars the Exterminator'. Montbars was said to have harboured a passionate hatred for the Spanish, having read about atrocities committed by Conquistadors against indigenous American populations. His career at sea was spent raiding along the Spanish Main and in the Caribbean. He was said to have left a vast, unclaimed buried treasure after his death in the early 1700s. This myth, along with tales of numerous cruelties he enacted on Spanish prisoners, assured Montbars' status in the folklore of the sea, perhaps suggesting that the maker of this picture was a sailor.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Title | Monbars Leader of Buckaneers (assigned by artist) |
Materials and techniques | Straw-work in a frame of carved and gilt wood |
Brief description | Straw-work picture, 'Monbars Leader of Buckaneers', English 1810 (French prisoner of war work) |
Physical description | Panel of straw-work, executed in 1810 by a French prisoner of war at Norman Cross. Within a rectangular panel is the figure of a man wearing a plumed hat, a short tunic and a cloak slung over his shoulders; in his right hand he holds an axe, the point of which rests on a rock; below is a label inscribed 'Monbars leader of Buckaneers'. |
Dimensions |
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Marks and inscriptions |
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Credit line | Given by C. Dack, Esq. |
Object history | Said to have been executed in 1810 by a French prisoner of war at Norman Cross. Given to the V&A in 1906 by C. Dack, Esq. [R.P. T86752/06] |
Subjects depicted | |
Association | |
Summary | This picture was made using a technique of marquetry known as straw-work. It was probably executed in about 1810, during the Napoleonic Wars, by a French inmate at the world's first purpose-built prisoner-of-war camp, at Norman Cross, near Peterborough. It depicts the 17th century French gentleman-buccaneer Daniel Montbars (born 1645), better known to history as 'Montbars the Exterminator'. Montbars was said to have harboured a passionate hatred for the Spanish, having read about atrocities committed by Conquistadors against indigenous American populations. His career at sea was spent raiding along the Spanish Main and in the Caribbean. He was said to have left a vast, unclaimed buried treasure after his death in the early 1700s. This myth, along with tales of numerous cruelties he enacted on Spanish prisoners, assured Montbars' status in the folklore of the sea, perhaps suggesting that the maker of this picture was a sailor. |
Collection | |
Accession number | 595-1906 |
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Record created | June 24, 2009 |
Record URL |
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