01 Marine Painting - John Charles Allcot's American Clipper Ship 'Wavertree', with Footnotes, #344

John Charles Allcot, (1888-1973)
American Clipper Ship 'Wavertree' Leaving Sydney Harbour with Pilot Boat.
c.  1971
Oil on Canvas Board
58.5x73.5cm
Private collection

Wavertree is a historic iron-hulled sailing ship built in 1885. Now the largest wrought iron sailing vessel afloat, it is located at the South Street Seaport in New York City.

Wavertree was built in Southampton, England in 1885 and was one of the last large sailing ships built of wrought iron. She was built for the Liverpool company R.W. Leyland & Company, and is named after the Wavertree district of that city.

The ship was first used to carry jute between eastern India and Scotland. When less than two years old the ship entered the "tramp trades", taking cargoes anywhere in the world. In 1910, after sailing for a quarter century, the ship was dis-masted off Cape Horn and barely made it to the Falkland Islands. Rather than re-rigging the ship its owners sold it for use as a floating warehouse at Punta Arenas, Chile. Wavertree was converted into a sand barge at Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1947. This ship was discovered in 1967 at the Riachuelo River in Buenos Aires by an American citizen working on a sand barge and acquired by the South Street Seaport Museum in 1968. The ship was sent to the Arsenal Naval Buenos Aires for restoration. In 1969 after restoration was complete, the ship was towed to New York. The vessel was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 13, 1978. More on the Wavertree

John Charles Allcot (1888-1973), artist, was born in Liverpool, England, son of George Allcot, mariner. Educated at Arnot Street Board School, at the age of 14 John was apprenticed to Tillotson & Son Ltd, lithographers, and attended classes at the Liverpool Institute and School of Art. In 1906 he worked in the Mersey tugboats and next year sailed as a deck-boy in the barque, Invermark. He loved painting and would scrounge ship's paint, sailcloth and handkerchiefs with which to depict the sea, ships and life on board.  

Arriving in Sydney in 1909, Allcot signed on with the old clipper, Antiope. He worked in coastal, island and intercolonial vessels out of Sydney before giving up the sea in 1912. Supporting himself by painting theatre sets, he obtained commissions for ship paintings from Sydney photographers and toured the countryside, completing landscapes which he exhibited regularly with the Royal Art Society of New South Wales from 1920. About this time he formed an enduring friendship with Phyllis Zanker.

He gained widespread recognition in the 1920s with a series of oil paintings (on the founding of the Australian colonies) which were later acquired by the Australasian Pioneers' Club. Other commissions followed. Allcot also worked as an illustrator and wrote articles about the sea for the Sydney Mail. In the 1940s he painted the seas for ship-models built by the sculptor Robert Klippel. Allcot's painting of the Cutty Sark was presented to the Duke of Edinburgh in 1954.

Painting to tried and tested conventions, with impeccable attention to detail, Allcot used water-colour and gouache, and oils. His work was prolific and romantic. At a time of great change in the shipping industry, he specialized in nostalgic views of sailing ships and steamers, and found an appreciative market of ship-owners, captains, crews and their families. More on John Charles Allcot






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01 Marine Painting, William Henry Bartlett's SEAL-DIVER, with Footnotes, #343

William Henry  Bartlett, 1858-1932
THE SEAL-DIVER, CO. MAYO, c. 1888
Oil on canvas
115 by 162.5cm., 45¼ by 64in.
Private collection

Grey seals are the larger of the two seal species found in Irish waters. Males known as bulls are larger and heavier than the female cows with mature bulls on average measuring up to 2.5 meters in length and weighing up to 300kg. Female adults will grow to 2 meters in body length and can weigh up to 180kg. 

Grey seals have few natural predators in Irish waters, man is still the cause of most seal deaths. They were for centuries hunted for their fur and meat which resulted in a huge decline in their numbers throughout their range by the 19th century. Seal hunting has been made illegal in most parts of the world but their increasing numbers can bring them into conflict with fishermen who can legally shoot seals which are found close to their nets. Grey seal population increases may be regarded as a threat to the fishing industry as they will take salmon and other commercially important fish species from fixed nets, hunt within salmonid estuaries or target fish farms. More on seals

William Henry  Bartlett RI (1858-1932) was an accomplished artist and draughtsman, focusing primarily on landscape painting and subjects associated with the sea. In the late 1870s he travelled to Paris to study at the Ecole des Beaux Arts under Geróme and at the Académie Julian under Bouguereau. It was through his study in Paris that he found influence from Bastien Lepage, who has been credited with leading the emergence of the Naturalist school. This inspired his use of genre and pastoral themes shown in works such as The Village Road. He returned to London in 1880 where he began exhibiting in the Royal Academy and in 1889 he was presented with a silver medal at the Paris exhibition. He developed an interest in Irish rural life, in particular the harsh landscapes that people struggled to survive in, and this has translated into a number of his paintings.

Bartlett has been exhibited numerous times with the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) and the Royal Academy (RA). The Fine Art Society presented a one-man show of Bartlett’s work, he has been published in the Art Journal and he was also a member of the Royal Society of British Artists. More on William Henry  Bartlett





Please visit my other blogs: Art CollectorMythologyMarine ArtPortrait of a Lady, The OrientalistArt of the Nude and The Canals of VeniceMiddle East Artists365 Saints and 365 Days, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

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01 Marine Painting - Newell Conver's Wyeth's Morgan's men are out for you, with Footnotes, #342

Newell Convers Wyeth (1882-1945)
"Oh, Morgan's men are out for you; and Blackbeard--buccaneer!...", c. 1917
Oil on canvas
50 ¼ x 35 in. (127.6 x 88.9 cm.)
Private collection

Sir Henry Morgan, (born 1635, Llanrhymney, Glamorgan—died August 25, 1688, probably Lawrencefield, Jamaica), Welsh buccaneer, most famous of the adventurers who plundered Spain’s Caribbean colonies during the late 17th century. Operating with the unofficial support of the English government, he undermined Spanish authority in the West Indies. More on Sir Henry Morgan

Blackbeard, (born c. 1680, Bristol?, England—died November 22, 1718, Ocracoke Island, North Carolina [U.S.]), is one of history’s most famous pirates, who became an imposing figure in American folklore.

Thought to have been active as a privateer for the British during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–13), Blackbeard was first heard of as a pirate late in 1716, and soon became notorious for outrages along the Virginia and Carolina coasts and in the Caribbean Sea. In 1718 Blackbeard established his base in a North Carolina inlet. At the request of Carolina planters, the lieutenant governor of Virginia, Alexander Spotswood, dispatched a British naval force under Lieutenant Robert Maynard, who, after a hard fight, succeeded in killing Blackbeard. The pirate’s body was decapitated, and his head was affixed to the end of the bowsprit of his ship. More on Blackbeard

Newell Convers Wyeth (October 22, 1882 – October 19, 1945), known as N. C. Wyeth, was an American artist and illustrator. During his lifetime, Wyeth created over 3,000 paintings and illustrated 112 books, 25 of them for Scribner's, the Scribner Classics, which is the work for which he is best known. The first of these, Treasure Island, was one of his masterpieces and the proceeds paid for his studio. Wyeth was a realist painter just as the camera and photography began to compete with his craft. Sometimes seen as melodramatic, his illustrations were designed to be understood quickly. He is notably the father of painter Andrew Wyeth and the grandfather of Jamie Wyeth, both celebrated American painters. More on Newell Convers Wyeth





Please visit my other blogs: Art CollectorMythologyMarine ArtPortrait of a Lady, The OrientalistArt of the Nude and The Canals of VeniceMiddle East Artists365 Saints and 365 Days, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

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01 Marine Work, GEORGE SAVARY WASSON's USS Brooklyn at the Battle of Santiago de Cuba, With Footnotes, #320

GEORGE SAVARY WASSON (American, 1855-1932) USS Brooklyn at the Battle of Santiago de Cuba, c. 1901 Oil on canvas 30 x 45 in. Private collect...