Signed: Rossel, pinxt, 1788; Dequevauviller, sculpt, 1790. The engraving depicts two French frigates, Astrée and Hermione, at the height of battle against a convoy of six British warships off Cape Breton Island in July 1781; the French prevailed, capturing two British warships. The commander of the Astrée was the comte de La Perouse (an original member of the Society and famous explorer who was sent on a voyage around the world by Louis XVI but disappeared somewhere off the coast of Australia in the late 1780s); comte de La Touche-Tréville (also an original member of the Society) commanded the Hermione, the ship that just the year before had carried Lafayette on his return to America from France with news of increased support from the King. Rossel de Cercy collaborated with the engraver Dequevauviller on a planned series of eighteen engravings of French naval engagements during the American revolutionary war to be dedicated to the King, but ultimately only three engravings were completed. See also BROAD L2018F188m (https://cdm16923.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16923coll7/id/111/rec/32) and P&E L2017F65ff (https://cdm16923.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16923coll5/id/306/rec/59).