Lord Nelson had attached himself to Lady Hamilton. Lord Hamilton was probably indifferent. Only Lord Nelson’s attachment to Lady Hamilton seemed significant to me. Lord Nelson was killed in a battle at sea. Lady Hamilton lost her financial support when Lord Nelson lost his life! Information of a historic sort was in my home when I was a teenager, and their fate clung to me down through the years. When a friend sent me a post card with Lord Nelson’s ship, the VICTORY on it, that triggered my mind to close a gap of some 80 years of remembering. VICTORY the ship as title of the painting mocks the reality of the situation.

The unraveling rope between Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton states the case of their fates. That was a big part of it, but the fate of her girl child was troublesome to my juvenile mind.