08 Classic Works of Art, Marine Paintings - With Footnotes, #39

Charles Edward Dixon, (British, 1872-1934)
'Oak, Hemp, and Powder, Trafalgar, 1805' , c. /1920' (lower right)
Gouache
118.5 x 241cm (46 5/8 x 94 7/8in)
Private collection

The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement fought by the British Royal Navy against the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies, during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815).

Twenty-seven British ships of the line led by Admiral Lord Nelson aboard HMS Victory defeated thirty-three French and Spanish ships of the line under the French Admiral Villeneuve in the Atlantic off the southwest coast of Spain, just west of Cape Trafalgar, in CaƱos de Meca. The Franco-Spanish fleet lost twenty-two ships, without a single British vessel being lost. It was the most decisive naval battle of the war, conclusively ending French plans to invade England.

The British victory spectacularly confirmed the naval supremacy that Britain had established during the eighteenth century and was achieved in part through Nelson's departure from the prevailing naval tactical orthodoxy. 

Nelson was shot by a French musketeer during the battle and died shortly after, becoming one of Britain's greatest war heroes. Villeneuve was captured along with his ship Bucentaure. Admiral Federico Gravina, the senior Spanish flag officer, escaped with the remnant of the fleet and succumbed months later to wounds sustained during the battle. Villeneuve attended Nelson's funeral while a captive on parole in Britain. The Battle of Trafalgar

Charles Edward Dixon (8 December 1872 - 12 September 1934) was a British maritime painter of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, whose work was highly successful and regularly exhibited at the Royal Academy. Several of his paintings are held by the National Maritime Museum and he was a regular contributing artist to magazines and periodicals. He lived at Itchenor in Sussex and died in 1934. More on Charles Edward Dixon

Charles Edward Dixon, (British, 1872-1934)
The Trafalgar off Greenwich , 1932
Watercolour and bodycolour
52 x 75.5cm
Private collection

Greenwich is located within the Royal Borough of Greenwich, to which it lends its name. Notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time. 

The town became a popular resort in the 18th century. The maritime connections of Greenwich were celebrated in the 20th century, with the siting of the Cutty Sark and Gipsy Moth IV next to the river front, and the National Maritime Museum in the former buildings of the Royal Hospital School in 1934. Greenwich formed part of Kent until 1889 when the County of London was created. More on Greenwich

Charles Edward Dixon, (British, 1872-1934), see above


Hayley Lever, 1876 - 1958
GLOUCESTER HARBOR
Oil on canvas laid down on Masonite
13 by 16 inches, (33 by 40.6 cm)
Private collection

Gloucester, on Cape Ann in Essex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is part of Massachusetts' North Shore.  An important center of the fishing industry and a popular summer destination, Gloucester consists of an urban core on the north side of the harbor and the outlying neighborhoods. More on Gloucester

Richard Hayley Lever (28 September 1875 – 6 December 1958) was an Australian-American painter, etcher, lecturer and art teacher. Lever was born in Bowden, South Australia. He excelled in painting classes at Prince Alfred College, and on leaving school continued to study at his Norwood art school. He was a charter member of the Adelaide Easel Club in 1892.
An inheritance was sufficient for Lever to finance a trip to England in 1899 to further his career in painting. He moved to St. Ives. The town's reputation as a centre for marine painting. He studied painting techniques under the Impressionists Olsson and Algernon Talmage. Lever also painted in the French port villages of Douarnenez and Concarneau, Brittany.

In late 1904 Lever made a trip back to Adelaide, where he staged several exhibitions, painted seascapes and taught. In 1906 he returned to Europe 

In 1911, an Impressionist painter, persuaded Lever to move to America, saying he would have greater success there. From 1919 to 1931, Lever taught art classes at the Art Students League of New York. Lever went to Pittsburgh in 1922 as an art juror for the Carnegie International exhibition.
In 1924, Lever was commissioned to paint a portrait of the presidential yacht, Mayflower, which was subsequently presented to President Calvin Coolidge. By 1930, Lever had moved to Caldwell, New Jersey, staying there until 1938, when he moved to Mount Vernon, New York. While living in New York, Lever painted marines and landscapes in New Jersey, Vermont, New England, New York and the Canadian Maritimes. Throughout his life, he traveled and painted extensively, including Nova Scotia and Grand Manan Island in Canada, the Bahamas and Florida, while often returning to Europe. In 1933, Hayley was named Director of the Green Mountains summer art school at Smugglers Notch, Stowe Vermont. Lever also taught painting classes at the Forum School of Art in Bronxville, New York from 1934 to 1935. More on Richard Hayley Lever



Louis Charles Moeller, 1855 - 1930
DISCUSSING THE CATCH
Oil on canvas
12 by 16 inches, (30.5 by 40.6 cm)
Private collection

Louis Charles Moeller (born in New York City, 5 August 1855; died in Weehawken, New Jersey, 1930) was a United States genre painter. He was the son of a decorative painter, with whom he served a three years' apprenticeship. He then studied painting in New York, and in Munich. His meager resources obligated him to return from Munich back home to New York in 1883, where he again devoted himself to decorative painting.

The year of his return, he sent “A Girl in a Snow-Storm” to the National Academy of Design. His second work, “Puzzled,” gained him the Hallgarten Prize, and election as an associate to the National Academy in 1884. He was made a National Academician in 1895. More on Louis Charles Moeller


William Trost Richards, 1833 - 1905
EBBING TIDE, c. 1891
 oil on canvas
20 1/2 by 40 1/2 inches, (52.1 by 102.9 cm)
Private collection

William Trost Richards (June 3, 1833 – November 8, 1905) was an American landscape artist. He was associated with both the Hudson River School and the American Pre-Raphaelite movement. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Between 1850 and 1855 he studied part-time with the German artist Paul Weber while working as designer and illustrator of ornamental metalwork. Richards first public showing was part of an exhibition in New Bedford, Massachusetts, organized by artist Albert Bierstadt in 1858.

In 1862 he was elected honorary member of the National Academy of Design and Academician in 1871. In 1863, he became a member of the Association of the Advanced of Truth in Art, an American Pre-Raphaelite group. In 1866, he departed for Europe for one year. Upon his return and for the following six years he spent the summers on the East Coast.

In the 1870s, he produced many acclaimed watercolor views of the White Mountains, several of which are now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Richards exhibited at the National Academy of Design from 1861 to 1899, and at the Brooklyn Art Association from 1863 to 1885. He was elected a full member of the National Academy in 1871.

He died on April 17, 1905 in Newport, Rhode Island. More on William Trost Richards


Francis Augustus Silva, 1835 - 1886
LATE AFTERNOON
Oil on canvas
18 by 30 inches, (45.8 by 76.2 cm)
Private collection

Francis Augustus Silva, 1835 - 1886; was born in New York City in 1835. Silva never received formal training as an artist but manifested artistic talent from an early age. At thirteen he exhibited ink drawings at the Annual Fair of the American Institute of the City of New York. He set up his first studio in 1858, but his career as a painter was put on hold when he joined the New York militia and served in the Civil War. In 1868, Silva was discharged from the military. The same year, he had his first exhibit at the National Academy of Design, which marked the start of his painting career. 

Throughout most of the 1870s Silva kept a studio in New York City and took frequent painting trips along the East Coast. He developed his brand of dramatically lit, atmospheric Luminism from painting marine subjects  His fondness for harbor views surrounding his native city was evidenced in the boat and shipwreck scenes of Brooklyn and Long Island he exhibited at the Brooklyn Art Association exhibitions (1869–1885). Around 1880 Silva moved to Long Branch, New Jersey but kept a studio in the famous Tenth Street Studio Building in New York City. He painted scenes along the New Jersey coasts until his death in 1886. More on Francis Augustus Silva


Francis Augustus Silva, 1835 - 1886
EARLY MOONRISE, CONEY ISLAND
Oil on canvas
12 by 20 inches
(30.5 by 50.8 cm)
Private collection

Francis Augustus Silva, 1835 - 1886, see above


Emil Carlsen, 1853 - 1932
BREAKERS, c. 1908
Oil on canvas
28 by 34 inches, (71.1 by 86.3 cm)
Private collection

Soren Emil Carlsen (October 19, 1853 – January 2, 1932, New York City, U.S.) was an American Impressionist painter who emigrated to the United States from Denmark. He became known for his still lifes. In an era when many artists succumbed to the pressure resulting from The Armory Show to follow modernistic "developments" Carlsen remained faithful to his inborn aesthetic sense. Later in his career Carlsen expanded his range of subjects and becoming known for landscapes and marines as well.


During his long career he won many of the most important honors in American art and was elected to membership in the National Academy of Design. For more than forty years he was also a respected teacher in Chicago, San Francisco and New York. More on Soren Emil Carlsen


















Acknowledgement: Sotheby’s, and others

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others

We do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

If you enjoyed this post, please share with friends and family.

08 Classic Works of Art, Marine Paintings - With Footnotes, #37

Thomas Somerscales, 1842-1927
A SHIP OF THE LINE 100 YEARS AGO, c. 1900
Oil on canvas
70 by 106cm., 27½ by 42in.
Private collection


The author Alex Hurst commented, the ship's hull paint suggests she is a little earlier than 1800, however she has double dolphin strikers which were not introduced into the British Navy until around 1900. Somerscales depicts the ship hove to with her main yards backed as whalers approach. In the distance, another ship can be seen with her 'stun'-sails' - the additional sails seen extended outside the normal sail plan - set. These were almost obsolete by the twentieth century. More on this painting


Thomas Jacques Somerscales (born in Kingston upon Hull on 29 October 1842; died 27 June 1927) was an English marine painter. He is also considered a Chilean painter as he began his career there and many of his landscapes evoke the region.

His father was a shipmaster, who sketched, and his uncle was an amateur painter. However he had no formal training as an artist and originally became a teacher in the Royal Navy. He also traveled around the Pacific and while teaching in ValparaĆ­so he started working as a professional painter. By 1893 he was still referred to as a "little known artist" but had gained some praise. More on Thomas Jacques Somerscales


Thomas Bush Hardy
Blake and Von Tromp in the Straits of Dover, May 1652 , 1873
Watercolour
72 x 125cm; 28¼ x 49in
Private collection


Relations with England became increasingly strained after the Navigation Act (1651), which was passed to restrict Dutch trade with British possessions, while much resentment was also caused by the English claim to sovereignty over the seas.

A skirmish with Adm. Robert Blake off Dover in May 1652 resulted in the First Anglo-Dutch War, which marked a crisis in the rivalry between England and the Netherlands as carriers of world trade. Although Von Tromp was unable to stir the English admirals to action later in the year—for which he was censured by the Dutch authorities, who even kept him from his command for some months—he defeated Blake off Dungeness in December. But the English fleet was superior to the Dutch; Tromp was unable to continue his successes and lost the three-day battle between Portland and Calais (March 1653), as well as the Battle of Gabbard in June. Tromp was killed in the battle off Terheijde near Scheveningen. More on this battle


Thomas Bush Hardy (1842, Sheffield – 1897, Maida Vale, London) was a British marine painter and watercolourist. As a young man he travelled in the Netherlands and Italy. In 1884 Hardy was elected a Member of the Royal Society of British Artists. He exhibited with the Society and also at the Royal Academy.
His paintings feature coastal scenes in England and the Netherlands, the French Channel ports and the Venetian Lagoon.
Hardy had nine children. His son Dudley Hardy was a painter, illustrator and poster designer. His daughter Dorothy received an MBE after working as a nurse in the First World War. He died on 15 December 1897 in Maida Vale, London. More on Thomas Bush Hardy

Albert Goodwin, RWS (British, 1845-1932)
'We were the first that ever did burst into that silent sea', c. 1917/18'
Watercolour with scratching out 
36.5 x 53.3cm (14 3/8 x 21in).
Private collection


The title and subject of this work seem to have been inspired by an excerpt from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. More on this painting

Albert Goodwin RWS (1845–1932) was a notable English landscape painter specialising in watercolours. His work shows the influences of Turner and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

Goodwin was born in Maidstone in Kent. After leaving school he became an apprentice draper. His exceptional artistic ability was recognised at an early age and he went on to study with the Pre-Raphaelite artists Arthur Hughes and Ford Madox Brown.

At the age of 15 his first painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy. He became an associate member of the Royal Watercolour Society (RWS) in 1876. He was championed by famed art critic John Ruskin who took him on a tour of Europe, where he made many sketches from nature which were later turned into watercolours. 

Goodwin was a prolific artist, producing over 800 works and continuing to paint well into his eighties. His wide variety of landscape subjects reflected his love of travel and show the influence of Turner. In later works he developed experimental techniques such as using ink over water color to achieve atmospheric lighting effects. His works are also an important record of social history. More on Albert Goodwin 

A. Felgate, (British 19th Century) 
The U.S. Frigate Sabine 
Watercolor on paper
10-1/4 x 14 in (26 x 35.5 cm)
Private collection

The first USS Sabine was a sailing frigate built by the United States Navy in 1855. The ship was among the first ships to see action in the American Civil War. In 1862, a large portion of the USS Monitor crew were volunteers from the Sabine.

She was built at the New York Navy Yard. Her keel was laid in 1822, but she was not launched until 3 February 1855. During this period, she underwent various alterations, the most extensive being a lengthening of her hull by twenty feet. Built essentially from Brandywine plans, she was commissioned on 23 August 1858, Capt. Henry A. Adams in command. More on the USS Sabine

Terrick Williams, 1860-1936
THE QUAYSIDE, CONCARNEAU
Oil on canvas
35.5 by 61cm., 14 by 24in.
Private collection


Concarneau (meaning Bay of Cornwall) is a commune in the FinistĆØre department of Brittany in north-western France.

The town has two distinct areas: the modern town on the mainland and the medieval Ville Close, a walled town on a long island in the centre of the harbour. Historically, the old town was a centre of shipbuilding. The Ville Close is connected to the town by a bridge and at the other end a ferry to the village of Lanriec on the other side of the harbour. More on Concarneau


John Terrick Williams RA (20 July 1860 – 20 July 1936). Williams was born in Liverpool, England, the son of a businessman. He was educated at Kings College School, London. Determination to become an artist he move to Europe and studied under Charles Verlat in Antwerp and later at the AcadĆ©mie Julian and Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant, William-Adolphe Bouguereau and Tony Robert-Fleury in Paris.

Williams focussed on landscape and marine subjects and painted in oil, pastel and watercolour. He travelled extensively and his impressionistic, luminous paintings sought the transient effects of light and reflections in Venice, St. Tropez, Paris, Brittany and St. Ives.

He was elected a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours in 1904. His work was regularly exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1891. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy (A.R.A.) on 18 November 1924, a Royal Academician (R.A.) on 14 February 1933, and a Senior R.A. on 1 January 1936. In 1933 he was also elected President of the RI. He died on his birthday in 1936 aged 76. After his death a memorial exhibition was held at the Fine Art Society in 1937. More on John Terrick Williams

Edward Seago, R.W.S., 1910-1974
THAMES BARGES ON THE ORWELL
Oil on board
36 by 51cm., 14 by 20in.
Private collection

The River Orwell flows through the county of Suffolk in England. Its source river, above the tidal limit at Stoke Bridge, is known as the River Gipping. It broadens into an estuary at Ipswich where the Ipswich dock has operated since the 7th century and then flows into the North Sea at Felixstowe after joining with the River Stour at Shotley. The large Orwell Bridge carries the A14 trunk road over the estuary to the south of Ipswich. More on The River Orwell

Edward Brian Seago, 1910–1974; was a British painter, writer, and illustrator, born in Norwich. He was confined to bed for much of his childhood, had little formal education, and was mainly self-taught as an artist. From 1928 to 1933 he travelled with circuses in Britain and abroad, and he wrote three illustrated books on the circus in the 1930s. However, he became best known for landscapes and portraits.


During the Second World War he served as a camouflage officer and after being invalided from the army in 1944 he was invited by Field Marshal Alexander to paint scenes of the Italian campaign in 1945. In 1953 he was appointed an official Coronation artist and in 1956–7 he accompanied the Duke of Edinburgh on a world tour.  More Seago


Frank Duveneck, 1848 - 1919
The Wharf at Gloucester Harbor , 1917
oil on canvas
28" x 36"
Private collection

Some of the first settlers in Gloucester used the Seven Seas Wharf for the processing of fish to be shipped to England, and South America in exchange for salt, clothing and other essentials of daily life. Gloucester men had exchanged salt fish for molasses in the West Indies. They then made rum on this wharf from the molasses. Much of the rum was then shipped to England for finished manufactured goods that the early colonists needed. Some of the supporting beams of this wharf were once main masts of old fishing schooners and clipper ships joined together by treenails (oaken pegs) ten inches long. More on The Wharf at Gloucester Harbor

Frank Duveneck, (born October 9, 1848, Covington, Kentucky, U.S.—died January 3, 1919, Cincinnati, Ohio), American painter, sculptor, and art teacher who helped awaken American interest in European naturalism. At age 21 Duveneck studied in Germany with Wilhelm Dietz at the Munich Academy and was greatly influenced by the works of Frans Hals, Rembrandt, and Peter Paul Rubens. His success was immediate, and in 1871 he won a medal from the Bavarian Royal Academy. Fellow artists and critics responded to his bold, vital brushstrokes and strong contrasts of light and dark. Two years later, he arranged his first solo exhibition in Munich, further establishing his international reputation.

After returning to the United States in 1873 and settling in Cincinnati, Ohio, Duveneck burst upon the American scene with an exhibition in Boston in 1875. His work was characterized by dark, earthy colours and broad, painterly brushwork clearly reminiscent of the European masters Duveneck admired. Both the writer Henry James and the artist William Morris Hunt championed Duveneck’s art. Although emboldened by this response, Duveneck returned to Munich and sent works to exhibitions in the United States. More Frank Duveneck

GEZA/GORDON MARICH ( Canadian 1913 - 1982 )
 Fishing Hut on Rocky Coast
Oil on canvas
16" x 20" (40.64 x 50.8 cm.)
Private collection

Gordon Geza Marich was born in Hungary in 1913. He studied art in Budapest and emigrated to Canada in 1957. It is generally accepted that his death occurred in 1975, although some conflicting reports indicate that he died in 1985.  Widely collected, Marich painted many different subjects, including the city center of Montreal, Quebec. Its tables are displayed in the National Museum of Art in Budapest galleries in Ottawa and Toronto, and in private collections around the world. His work evolved towards abstraction, including the extensive use of a palette knife. More on Gordon Geza Marich

Bernardus Johannes Blommers, (Dutch, 1845-1914)
Bringing in the catch 
Watercolour and bodycolour
35.3 x 53.0cm (13 7/8 x 20 7/8in)
Private collection

Bernardus Johannes (Bernard) Blommers (30 January 1845 in The Hague – 12 December 1914 in The Hague) was a Dutch etcher and painter of the Hague School.

He learned lithography early in his career, and then studied at the Hague Akademie under Johan Philip Koelman until 1868. His early paintings were mostly genre works depicting fishermen and their wives, heavily influenced by Jozef IsraĆ«ls. The later works (from about 1890) are more loosely painted, although maritime and genre scenes remained the primary subject matter. His work was critically successful during his lifetime, being sought after by English, Scottish and American collectors. Blommers was also active as a teacher; among his pupils was the American painter Caroline van Hook Bean, who became his daughter-in-law in 1913. More on Bernardus Johannes


Henri Matisse, 1869 - 1954
The Bay of Nice, c.  1918
Oil on canvas
71 x 90 cm
Private Collection

The Promenade des Anglais is a promenade along the Mediterranean at Nice, France. It extends from the airport on the west to the Quai des Ɖtats-Unis on the east, a distance of approximately 7 km. 

Starting in the second half of the 18th century, the English aristocracy took to spending the winter in Nice, enjoying the panorama along the coast. In 1820, when a particularly harsh winter up north brought an influx of beggars to Nice, some of the English proposed a useful project for them: the construction of a walkway along the sea.

The city of Nice, intrigued by the prospect of a pleasant promenade, greatly increased the scope of the work. The Promenade was first called the Camin deis AnglƩs. After the annexation of Nice by France in 1860 it was rechristened La Promenade des Anglais. More on Nice

Henri-Ɖmile-BenoĆ®t Matisse (31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter.

Matisse is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso, as one of the artists who best helped to define the revolutionary developments in the visual arts throughout the opening decades of the twentieth century, responsible for significant developments in painting and sculpture. Along with Picasso, Matisse helped to define and influence radical contemporary art in the 20th century. Although he was initially labelled a Fauve, by the 1920s he was increasingly hailed as an upholder of the classical tradition in French painting. His mastery of the expressive language of colour and drawing, displayed in a body of work spanning over a half-century, won him recognition as a leading figure in modern art. More on Henri Matisse

Sara Roberts, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Into The Void, c. 2017
Oil on Canvas.
33.9 H x 25.2 W x 1 in

Sara Roberts graduated with a Bachelor of Visual Arts  in Printmedia in 2011 and recently finished her Masters of Fine Arts in Painting at Sydney College of the Arts. She is an Australian visual artist who works primarily in oil paint. Often meditating on specific locations, her work reflects memories of places that she has been, interwoven with more idyllic and imagined elements of the environment. Born in Sydney and having grown up in Mexico, France, Sweden and Poland, the feeling of being foreign in an unfamiliar land was an influential one. Her oil paintings come to life through a constant process of accumulation and reduction: thoughtful yet fluid in her approach, she may patiently revisit the same painting again and again, adding and removing layers over time. More on Sara Roberts






Acknowledgement: Sotheby's, Saatchi Art, and others

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others

We do not sell art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.


If you enjoyed this post, please share with friends and family.


10 Classic Works of Art, Marine Paintings - With Footnotes, #36

Brian Coole, b. 1939
USS Franklin Enters New York Harbor
Oil on Board
15" x 22 1/2", frame 23" x 29"
Private collection

USS Franklin of the United States Navy was a 74-gun ship of the line. Built in 1815, she was the first vessel to be laid down at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.

Franklin sailed on her first cruise on 14 October 1817, when under the command of Master Commandant H. E. Ballard she proceeded from Philadelphia to the Mediterranean. Subsequently she was designated flagship of the Mediterranean Squadron, cruising on that station until March 1820. She returned to New York City on 24 April 1820.

From 11 October 1821 until 29 August 1824 she served as flagship on the Pacific Squadron. Franklin was laid up in ordinary until the summer of 1838 when she was ordered to Boston as a receiving ship. She continued in this capacity until 1852 at which time she was taken to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, razed and broken up. More on the USS Franklin 

Brian Coole, born in Edgeware, Middlesex, England, February 14th 1939. Irish parentage, strongest affiliation USA. Still living.

Entirely self-taught. Visits to public museums and galleries give his claimed influences of William Wyllie through a spectrum ranging to Rembrandt and Canaletto, although in the US, his work is compared to that of Fitz Hugh Lane.

Was commissioned, in 2001 to paint Three historical ship portraits for The Royal Naval Museum (United Kingdom)"" for permanent display. More on Brian Coole

Thomas Thompson, 1877 - 1917
The U. S. Ship Franklin, with a View of the Bay of New York, c. 1820s or 1830s
Oil on canvas
30 x 65 in. (76.2 x 165.1 cm)
Metropolitan Museum

The U. S. Ship Franklin, see above

Thomas John "Tom" Thomson (August 5, 1877 – July 8, 1917) was an influential Canadian artist of the early 20th century. He directly influenced a group of Canadian painters that would come to be known as the Group of Seven, and though he died before they formally formed, he is sometimes incorrectly credited as being a member of the group itself. Thomson died under mysterious circumstances on Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park. More on Thomas Thompson

Brian Coole, b. 1939
Battle of USS Constitution vs HMS Guerriere
Oil on board
22" x 27", frame 31" x 36"
Private collection


The first major naval encounter of the War of 1812 took place between the USS Constitution, commanded by Captain Isaac Hull, and the HMS British Guerriere, commanded by Captain Dacres. The two ships were both rated as frigates and carried similar armaments. The British captain was sure of victory, and before the encounter he was reported to have said- "There is a Yankee Frigate: in forty five minutes she is surely ours take her and I promise you four months pay."


As the two ships approached each other, the British kept up a steady fire of long-range cannon fire. The early shell bounced off the hull of the Constitution without causing any damage. It is said that a cry went up "hurrah- her sides are made of iron!"- Thus her name soon became "Old Ironside". When the two ships were 25 feet apart, Hull gave the order to open fire. The cannon hit the Geurrier with devastating effect. Within a short time all the masts of the Guerriere were down and Dacres had no choice but to surrender. While the victory of the Constitution militarily was a modest success, its political effect was substantial. It solidified support from New England for the war effort and countered the poor war news coming from the Canadian front. More on the USS Constitution defeated the HMS Guerriere 

Brian Coole, see above

Pierre Bonnard, (1867 - 1947)
Signac et ses amis en barque/ Signac and Friends Sailing, c. 1924
Oil on canvas
24x20 inches 
Kunsthaus ZĆ¼rich - Zurich Switzerland

Pierre Bonnard (3 October 1867 — 23 January 1947) was a French painter and printmaker, as well as a founding member of the Post-Impressionist group of avant-garde painters Les Nabis. Bonnard preferred to work from memory, using drawings as a reference, and his paintings are often characterized by a dreamlike quality. The intimate domestic scenes, for which he is perhaps best known, often include his wife Marthe de Meligny.

Bonnard has been described as "the most thoroughly idiosyncratic of all the great twentieth- century painters", and the unusual vantage points of his compositions rely less on traditional modes of pictorial structure than voluptuous color, poetic allusions and visual wit. Identified as a late practitioner of Impressionism in the early 20th century, Bonnard has since been recognized for his unique use of color and his complex imagery. More on Pierre Bonnard

Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida, 1863 - 1923
Bulls in the Sea
Oil, canvas
131 cm (51.57 in.), Width: 190 cm (74.8 in.)
Private collection

JoaquĆ­n Sorolla y Bastida (27 February 1863 – 10 August 1923) was a Spanish painter. Sorolla excelled in the painting of portraits, landscapes, and monumental works of social and historical themes. His most typical works are characterized by a dexterous representation of the people and landscape under the sunlight of his native land. More on JoaquĆ­n Sorolla y Bastida

Karen Tarlton, b. 1965
 Nyhavn, Copenhagen
Oil on canvas
16x20

Nyhavn (New Harbour) is a 17th-century waterfront, canal and entertainment district in Copenhagen, Denmark. Stretching from Kongens Nytorv to the harbour front just south of the Royal Playhouse, it is lined by brightly coloured 17th and early 18th century townhouses and bars, cafes and restaurants. The canal harbours many historical wooden ships. More on Nyhavn 

Karen Tarlton was born in 1965 in Riverside, California. During childhood, her family moved frequently, finally settling in beautiful Lake Tahoe. Even as a child, Karen saw beauty in everything and spent many hours drawing and painting the world around her. She attended The University of California at Davis, where she took her very first art classes. Karen began her art career after her husband joined the Air Force and they traveled from city to city for 23 years. Traveling greatly influenced her art; she has painted every place they lived.
“In every aspect of every painting there are two things that are important to me: The first is the power of expression, style and quality, and the second is that my art needs to make people happy. .” – Karen Tarlton. More on Karen Tarlton

Dorie Cook
Pilgrim
Acrylic on masonite
18" x 24".
Private collection

The Pilgrim was a sailing brig (180 tons, 86.5 feet (26.4 m) long) engaged in the California hide trade of the early 19th century. Although just one among many other ships engaged in the business, the Pilgrim was immortalized by one of her sailors, Richard Henry Dana, Jr., who wrote the classic account Two Years Before the Mast about its 1834 voyage between Boston and California.

The Pilgrim was built in 1825 for Boston owners Bryant, Sturgis & Co., and went down in a fire at sea in 1856. More on The Pilgrim 

Dorie Cook. Traveling between the west and east coast of the United States has allowed Dorie Cook's passion to broaden further with diverse locations to put paint to canvas. She has studied under several master artists: Joseph Mugnaini, printmaker, author and professor of drawing at Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, California; Milford Zornes, nationally acclaimed watercolorist; Sergei Bongart, internationally acclaimed Russian impressionist; Corinne Hartley, internationally recognized impressionist and sculptor.

Painting in a variety of styles and mediums over the years has broadened the color and design in her work. Medium of choice is oils, but Dorie is equally proficient in watercolor, acrylics, pen and ink, and printmaking. More on Dorie Cook

Dorie Cook
The Bostonian
Acrylic on masonite
18" x 24"
Private collection

The Bostonian was a 1033 Ton ship, built at East Boston in 1854 by Donald McKay; a Canadian-born American designer and builder of sailing ships.

Marzena Bis, (b. 1987)
Sea II, c. 2017
Oil on canvas
80 x 80 cm
Private collection

Marzena Bis  (born 1987) , is active/lives in Poland. 

Mariusz Brzyzek,  (b. 1984)
Boads, c. 2017
Acrylic on canvas
80 x 90 cm
Private collection

Mariusz Brzyzek,  (b. 1984), is a graduate of the Cracow Film School, specializing in film animation. He has always been interested in painting, drawing and music. In painting, the most appreciates street / urban art. By contrast, he was never a man working in these circles. However, the work of artists of this genre is a significant source of inspiration for him. He loves paintings that primarily function as decorative, but also give a lot to think of, and allow a moment to ponder. More on Mariusz Brzyzek

Katarzyna Srodowska, (b. 1971)
Fishing rods, c. 2017
Oil on canvas
90 x 130 cm
Private collection

Katarzyna Srodowska is a Polish visual artist who was born in 1971. Several works by the artist have been sold at auction, including 'Untitled' sold at Desa Unicum 'Young Polish Artists' in 2017.

ARTIST STATEMENT: "My paintings are created to be looked at. To me, a painting is not obliged to anything. It does not need to present the world, nor pretend anything. It just needs to be as it is, make us willing to look at it and be with, or on the contrary, attract us but make it impossible to be in its constant presence. It needs to be the colour, the light and the matter. An emotion tied to its perception." More on Katarzyna Srodowska 

Katarzyna Srodowska (b. 1971)
Fishing rods, c. 2017
Detail

Katarzyna Srodowska (b. 1971), see above

This time I have tried to add some contemporary artists. It has been a challenge finding any pertinent biographical information.

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others

We do not sell art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

If you enjoyed this post, please share with friends and family.

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...