• Title
  [Portrait of Midshipman Edward Riou, 1776 / by Daniel Gardner]
• Creator
  Daniel Gardner, (1750?-1805)
• Call number
  ML 1263
  Status: On display – Paintings from the Collection, Room 2, West Wall, no. 123
  
• Level of description
  fonds
• Date
  
  1776
• Type of material
  Graphic Materials, Paintings
• Reference code
  934307
• Issue Copy
  Digitised
• Physical Description
  1 painting - visible oval image approx. 58.0 x 46.5 cm, in oval frame approx. 68.0 x 56.5 cm - oil on canvas
  
• ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
  
  Daniel Gardner (c. 1750-1805), a portrait painter, was born in Kendal, Westmorland. He moved to London around 1767, where he studied at the Royal Academy School from 1770 under teachers including G. B. Cipriani, Benjamin West, and Johan Zoffany. Around 1773 he joined Joshua Reynold's studio as an assistant, and during his brief time there developed an approach to portraiture that he employed throughout his career. He died from a liver complaint on 8 July 1805.
  
  The subject of the painting, Edward Riou (1762-1801), was born at Mount Ephraim, Faversham, Kent. He joined the Royal Navy at the age of twelve, and in 1776 sailed as a midshipman on the Discovery which accompanied the Resolution on Cook's third voyage to the South Seas. In 1789 he was given command of the frigate Guardian, bound for Port Jackson, carrying convicts and supplies. In December 1789 not far from Marion Island the Guardian struck the spur of a iceberg which tore away her rudder and much of her keel. Half the ship's company took to the boats, with only fifteen surviving. Riou remained with 60 men managing with superb seamanship to sail the damaged ship within sight of the Cape of Good Hope.
  
  Riou returned to England to find that the Guardian's voyage had made him a popular hero. He was promoted commander and then post captain. He died a hero in the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801.
  
  Reference:
  Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online edition. http://www.oxforddnb.com/ (accessed September 23, 2011)
• Collection history
  Held in the Riou family by descent from the sitter until the 1950s when it was acquired by the New Zealand collector Charles Overbury Fox
• Scope and Content
  A three-quarter head and upper body portrait, in an eighteenth century gilt frame, of Riou as a fourteen year old boy. He is shown wearing midshipman's uniform.
• Copying Conditions
  Out of copyright: Artist died before 1955
  Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
• General note
  
  Digital order no:Album ID : 954444
• Signatures / Inscriptions
  
  Inscribed at lower right 'Edward Riou / 1776'.
  Inscribed in ink on paper label attached to stretcher 'Edward Riou / son of Stephen Riou / killed at Copenhagen / in command of the 'Amazon' / "The Gallant good Riou / of ...[?]'
• Name
  Riou, Edward, 1762-1801
  
• Subject
  Great Britain. Royal Navy--Officers--Portraits.
  Portrait painting--18th century--England
  boys
  
• Topic
  portraits
  oil paintings
  naval officers
  uniforms
  
• Exhibited in
  
  Paintings from the Collection
• Open Rosetta viewer
  IE342884

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