John Tayson (CO, IL, B. 1956) "John Paul Jones" Signed lower left. Original Mixed Media painting on Watercolor Paper. Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation. John Paul was born in Scotland in 1747. When he was twelve years old, he took service on a merchant ship which he left when it landed in Virginia. After a brief period studying navigation, he found a berth on a slaver and stayed with it until he was nineteen. He managed to get back to Virginia and added Jones to his name. With the outbreak of the Revolution, Jones was commissioned a lieutenant in the Continental Navy. Later, he was promoted to captain of a small fleet and in a cruise of his flagship, the Providence, captured sixteen enemy vessels. A grateful Congress appointed him captain of the sloop, Ranger. He proceeded to France and from there harried English merchant ships in the North Sea and the Irish Sea, and captured several British ships. Back in France, he was given command of the Bonhomme Richard, on which he conferred immortality. Jones was brought to battle by the British frigate Serapis, with eighteen guns as compared to the twelve of the Bonhomme Richard. Jones decided that his only hope was to close with the Serapis, which he succeeded in doing -- himself helping lash the two ships together. The ensuing battle was one of the most savage in Naval history; but ended with the surrender of the Serapis. On his return to Paris, Jones was a hero. John Adams called him "the ambitious and intriguing Officer in the American Navy." Image Size: 15.5 x 14.25 in. Overall Size: 26.25 x 22.25 in. Unframed. (B05607)