A View on the Island of Antigua: the English Barracks and Saint John's Church Seen from the Hospital

In 1771 Thomas Hearne, just out of his apprenticeship to an engraver, began working for Sir Ralph Payne, the recently appointed governor-general of the Leewards, a group of sugar colonies consisting of Antigua, Nevis, St. Christopher’s (now St. Kitts), and Montserrat. Hearne spent three and a half years making working drawings and, after his return to England in 1775, produced twenty large and highly finished watercolors for Payne, of which only eight are now known. This watercolor depicts St. John’s at Antigua, the traditional center of government for the Leewards, where Payne had taken up residence. After a major slave insurrection in Antigua in 1736, the colonial government had petitioned successfully to have a regiment stationed there, but the white West Indians living on the island remained in constant fear both of another slave revolt and of a French attack from nearby Guadeloupe and Martinique. The Center’s watercolor shows the newly built barracks and hospital and the renovated courthouse, as well as members of the 60th Royal American Regiment at exercise, reinforcing the message that Antigua was a well-governed and orderly colonial possession.

Gallery label for An American's Passion for British Art - Paul Mellon's Legacy (Yale Center for British Art, 2007-04-18 - 2007-07-29)

Credit Line: Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection