Large presentation mezzotint portrait, signed.

A superb print of a portrait commissioned from Oswald Birley by the Royal Yacht Squadron when the king became their admiral and patron in 1910. The portrait fittingly shows him in a rattan yacht armchair, with his sailing cap and telescope on an ottoman beside him. It is signed in the lower margin by both the king and the engraver. This print comes from the estate of Admiral Martin Dunbar-Nasmith (1883-1965), who won the Victoria Cross for his command of submarine E11 in the Dardanelles. George (1865-1936), the second child of Edward VII, was destined for a naval career. In 1877, he joined the training ship HMS Britannia with his elder brother Albert Victor. He served continuously until 1892, rising to the rank of captain through merit, and maintained a keen interest in naval affairs throughout his life. This nautical image is very fitting for the recipient, one of the great naval heroes of the First World War, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for his service in submarine E11 during the Dardanelles campaign. Churchill praised his actions, stating, "one submarine alone - E11 - three times passed and re-passed through the terrible dangers of the tenfold minefields, of the Nagara net, and of the long vigilantly guarded reaches of the Dardanelles, remained in the Marmora ninety-six days (forty-seven in one spell) and sunk single-handed 101 vessels, including a battleship, a modern destroyer and three gunboats. This prodigious feat of Commander Dunbar Nasmith VC. remains unsurpassed in the history of submarine warfare" (Churchill, p. 283). The king and Dunbar-Nasmith met in 1912 under remarkable circumstances. The king was at Weymouth in the Royal Yacht to watch the Fleet manoeuvres. When fog interrupted the proceedings, the King expressed his desire to take a dive in a submarine. He embarked on Dunbar-Nasmith's command, D4, and as reported by The Times, "made a lengthy run in her when she was submerged." Astonishingly, the king's fellow passengers included his second son, Prince Albert (later George VI), Winston Churchill (First Lord of the Admiralty and future prime minister), and Captain Roger Keyes (Inspecting Captain of Submarines and first Director of Combined Operations in the early stages of the Second World War). A biographical sketch in the July 2012 issue of Navy News by long-time family friend Commander William Corbett notes that the admiral often wondered what would have happened to the course of 20th-century history had he sunk that day. This concern was not unreasonable, given that he had nearly sunk in submarine A4 during a signalling trial in the Solent in 1905. Sir Oswald Birley (1880-1952) was a highly talented portraitist, "capable of creating not only a fine likeness but possessing an ability to bring thoughtfulness and empathy to his work" (Freeborn). George V was his first royal commission, which increased his popularity among "aristocrats, politicians, artists and scientists of the day" in whom "he captured the expression, pose and attitude of a generation of people who lived through and influenced some of history's most tumultuous years." The plate was engraved by Thomas Hamilton Crawford (1860-1948), a Scottish landscape and architectural artist who studied under Herkomer and exhibited at the Royal Academy and Paris Salon. Crawford is perhaps best remembered as the last serious exponent of mezzotint portrait engraving in the first half of the 20th century. Winston S. Churchill, The World Crisis Vol. II: 1915, 1923; Ros Freeborn, "Power & Beauty: The Art of Sir Oswald Birley", ArtUK online. Finely executed mezzotint by T. Hamilton Crawford, printed in sepia on India paper and mounted within a debossed plate-mark, framed and glazed in the original gilt ebonized wood presentation frame surmounted by gilt Imperial State Crown; frame 760 x 608 mm, glazed area 685 x 533 mm, print area 490 x 370 mm. Print lightly toned, some foxing in the margin, particularly at the bottom around the engraver's signature; recen.…