JOHN ECKSTEIN, akvarell och täckvittpå papper, signerad och daterad 1815, betitlad a tergo under bakstycket.

John Eckstein was the son of the German-born sculptor and painter John Eckstein (1735-1817). He exhibited at the Royal Academy in London between 1787 and 1802. In 1803 he accompanied Admiral Samuel Hood to the ”Diamond Rock” near Martinique, the garrisoning of which Hood commissioned as a sloop-of-war to blockade the approaches of Martinique. Eckstein later went to Barbados where he painted portraits of officers stationed on the island, and seems to have died in the West Indies in about 1838.

Charles Wale was an English General and the last British governor of Martinique between about 1812 and 1815. On 25 February 1811 he was appointed Colonel of the 33rd Regiment of Foot and was given the governorship in recognition of his capture of Guadelope from the French. He was later knighted for his service. He began his military career in 1779 with the 88th Foot under Colonel Keating. He initially served in Jamaica and in 1780 became a lieutenant in the 97th. With his new regiment he sailed to Gibraltar with Vice-Admiral George Darby´s fleet in 1781 and participated in the latter part of the defence of Gibraltar during the Great Siege of Gibraltat. He later went on to serve in Ireland, the Vhannel Island and the Cambridgeshire Militia. In 1799 he participated in the Anglo-Russian expedition to The Helder in North Holland He also served again in Jamaica and in Bengal. He had been made colonel on 25 April 1808, and in March 1809 he was appointed a brigadier-general in the West Indies. He commanded the reserve in the expedition under Sir George Beckwith which took Guadeloupe in February 1810. He was wounded in the action of 3 Feb., and received the medal. On 4 June 1811 he was promoted major-general, and on 21 Feb. 1812 he was appointed governor of Martinique, and remained so till that island was restored to France in 1815. He was made K.C.B. on 2 Jan. 1815. He was promoted lieutenant-general on 19 July 1821, and general on 28 June 1838, and was made colonel of the 33rd foot on 25 Feb. 1831.