A second painting of the Battle of Jersey
A print dated 1815 and attributed to Thomas Kelly, which is undoubtedly a copy of the picture left, which is owned by La Société Jersiaise
Although The Death of Major Francis Peirson by John Singleton Copley (1784), which now forms part of the Tate Collection, having been bought for the nation in the 19th century by the National Gallery, is the most important painting of the Battle of Jersey, there is a second major work which is now in the hands of La Société Jersiaise
Edward Burney
The Battle of Jersey was painted three years after Copley's work, by Edward Francis Burney.
Edward Burney was born in Worcester on 7 September 1760. He was the son of Richard Burney (1723-1792) and Elizabeth Humphries (1720-1771).
In 1776, at the age of 16, he became a student at the Royal Academy School of Art. He received encouragement from Joshua Reynolds, then president of the school. Burney exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1780 to 1803. His collection included historical pieces and portraits of friends and family, including his cousin Frances.
Though he was a capable oil portraitist, he worked mainly as an illustrator. In 1780 he exhibited three drawings to accompany Frances Burney's Evelina, one of which was later engraved and incorporated into a 1791 edition of the novel. He went on to do a series of illustrations for Milton's Paradise Lost, which are now held by the Huntington Library.
Burney died in London on December 16, 1848, at the age of 88, and was buried in Marylebone. He was unmarried.
