Maritime Art Archive
The Gouden Leeuw at the Battle of the Texel, 21 August 1673 (1687)
The Dutch artist Willem van de Velde the Younger was one of the foremost sea painters of the second half of the seventeenth century and went on to be celebrated in the centuries that followed. His father, Willem van de Velde the Elder, was also a renowned marine artist but it was his son who […] Read More
A Whaler off a Mountainous Coast
James Wilson Carmichael is an artist of great value to maritime historians because of his experience both of seafaring and shipbuilding. Born in a city with deep maritime heritage, Newcastle upon Tyne, his father was a shipwright and his mother the daughter of a mariner. Carmichael went to sea as boy and sailed the trans-Biscay trade […] Read More
Mahratta pirates attacking the sloop Aurora, of the Bombay Marine, 1812; beginning of the action
Thomas Buttersworth was born on the Isle of Wight before joining the Royal Navy in 1795 at the age of twenty-seven. He soon became rated as an able seaman – suggesting that he was already an experienced sailor before he joined – and later as a master-at-arms and subsequently as midshipman. His naval career was […] Read More
The Ship Haddon Hall
Marie-Edouard Adam, born in 1847, made a name for himself in the second half of the nineteenth century with wonderful ship portraits such as this, of the Haddon Hall. Adam’s talent was widely acknowledged and he gained a commission from Queen Victoria. Born near Paris, Adam moved to Le Havre at an early age, where […] Read More
Eddystone Lighthouse, c.1708
The early eighteenth century was a pivotal moment in the design and construction of lighthouses and this c.1708 painting by the marine artist Isaac Sailmaker shows one of the most important, the second Eddystone Lighthouse. The first, built by Henry Winstanley between 1696 and 1699, was destroyed in the Great Storm of 1703. This, a wooden construction […] Read More
Limehouse Reach, London c.1820
This wonderfully atmospheric oil painting of Limehouse Reach in London is by the Scottish maritime artist, William Anderson. Perhaps most famous for his battle scenes including The Battle of Waterloo and The Battle of the Nile, Anderson’s paintings of shipping on the Thames are amongst his finest works. Anderson’s work is particularly valuable for those engaged […] Read More
Ships Trading in the East, c.1614
This painting of ships approaching shore under the guns of a fortress and in view of a wealthy audience is full of remarkable detail. The ships fly flags from several nations. The ships on the left and far right fly the flags of Holland and Zealand; the large ship in the centre flies the English Royal […] Read More
A Marine Leaning on a Pile of Bales, c.1774.
Gabriel Bray is an artist of exceptional interest for maritime historians because of his first-hand experience of the maritime world that he depicted. It is likely that this study of a marine, perhaps on guard by a pile of bales, was made in 1774 shortly before Bray sailed to the West Indies as second lieutenant […] Read More
A fishing vessel ashore…
A fishing vessel ashore with fishermen casting a net. Samuel Scott was an English sea-painter who worked from the mid 1720s onwards. He lived in London and worked as an accountant’s clerk in the stamp duty office in Lincoln’s Inn. Outside of his work he energetically pursued an artistic career and became the first English marine […] Read More
Loch Fyne Herring Boats
William Lionel Wyllie (1851-1931) was one of Britain’s most talented and prolific maritime artists and he began to paint around the age of twenty, in the 1870s. Here he has chosen as his subject herring boats on Loch Fyne, a sea loch on the west coast of Scotland that became renowned for its herring in […] Read More