The Surrender of Pedro de Valdes to Francis Drake

What it is

This is an oil painting on canvas by John Seymour Lucas, dated 1889. It shows a ship's deck where a richly dressed man in a plumed hat and sword faces armoured and helmeted men. A figure in dark armour presents a hat and sword hilt toward him. Robed clergy and armed men stand at left, with cannon, smoke and sails in the background. The painting shows the surrender of Pedro de Valdes aboard the Revenge during the attack of the Spanish Armada in 1588. It was presented to the City of Plymouth in 1929 and is on loan to the National Trust at Buckland Abbey.

Why it matters

The Spanish Armada was a large fleet sent against England in 1588. Drake was second in command of the English fleet during that campaign, and his capture of a Spanish ship and its commander became part of England's famous story of the defeat of the Armada. Lucas painted the scene more than three hundred years after the event, so it reflects Victorian ideas of heroism and national pride as well as the events themselves.

Look closer

• Who is shown in the centre, and how do the clothes and gestures of different men show rank or defeat?
• Why did a painter in 1889 choose to show this moment, and what would it have meant to viewers then?
• What might this painting leave out, such as the perspective of the Spanish sailors or the cost of the battle?