12 Classic Marine Paintings - With Footnotes, #22

Montague Dawson
Frigate Cutting Through Choppy Seas
16 7/8 x 26 5/8 in
Watercolor on paper
Private Collection

Montague Dawson RMSA, FRSA (1890–1973) was a British painter who was renowned as a maritime artist. His most famous paintings depict sailing ships, usually clippers or warships of the 18th and 19th centuries. Montague was the son of a keen yachtsman and the grandson of the marine painter Henry Dawson (1811–1878), born in Chiswick, London. Much of his childhood was spent on Southampton Water where he was able to indulge his interest in the study of ships. For a brief period around 1910 Dawson worked for a commercial art studio in Bedford Row, London, but with the outbreak of the First World War he joined the Royal Navy. Whilst serving with the Navy in Falmouth he met Charles Napier Hemy (1841–1917), who considerably influenced his work. In 1924 Dawson was the official artist for an Expedition to the South Seas by the steam yacht St.George. During the expedition he provided illustrated reports to the Graphic magazine.

After the War, Dawson established himself as a professional marine artist, concentrating on historical subjects and portraits of deep-water sailing ships. During the Second World War, he was employed as a war artist. Dawson exhibited regularly at the Royal Society of Marine Artists, of which he became a member, from 1946 to 1964, and occasionally at the Royal Academy between 1917 and 1936. By the 1930s he was considered one of the greatest living marine artists, whose patrons included two American Presidents, Dwight D Eisenhower and Lyndon B Johnson, as well as the British Royal Family. Also in the 1930s, he moved to Milford-Upon-Sea in Hampshire, living there for many years. Dawson is noted for the strict accuracy in the nautical detail of his paintings which often sell for six figures.

The work of Montague Dawson is represented in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich and the Royal Naval Museum, Portsmouth. More

Edward William Cooke
French Sloop Entering the Harbour of Tréport, c. 1869
Oil on canvas
81.3 x 134.6 cm
Private Collection

Le Tréport is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Haute-Normandie region in north-eastern France. A small fishing port and light industrial town situated in the Pays de Caux, some 21 miles (34 km) northeast of Dieppe. The mouth of the Bresle river meets the English Channel here, in between the high (110 metres) chalk cliffs and the pebbly beach. More Le Tréport

Edward William Cooke, R.A., F.R.S., F.Z.S., F.S.A., F.G.S. (27 March 1811 – 4 January 1880) was an English landscape and marine painter, and gardener. Cooke was born in Pentonville, London, the son of well-known line engraver George Cooke; his uncle, William Bernard Cooke (1778–1855), was also a line engraver of note, and Edward was raised in the company of artists. He was a precocious draughtsman and a skilled engraver from an early age, displayed an equal preference for marine subjects (in special in sailing ships) and published his "Shipping and Craft" – a series of accomplished engravings – when he was 18, in 1829. He benefited from the advice of many of his father’s associates, notably Clarkson Stanfield and David Roberts. Cooke began painting in oils in 1833, took formal lessons from James Stark in 1834 and first exhibited at the Royal Academy and British Institution in 1835, by which time his style was essentially formed.

He went on to travel and paint with great industry at home and abroad, indulging his love of the 17th-century Dutch marine artists with a visit to the Netherlands in 1837. He returned regularly over the next 23 years, studying the effects of the coastal landscape and light, as well as the works of the country's Old Masters, resulting in highly successful paintings. He went on to travel in Scandinavia, Spain, North Africa and, above all, to Venice. In 1858, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Honorary Academician.

Cooke also had serious natural history and geological interests, being a Fellow of the Linnean Society, Fellow of the Geological Society and Fellow of the Zoological Society, and of the Society of Antiquaries. His geological interests in particular led to his election as Fellow of the Royal Society in 1863 and he became a Royal Academician the following year.

In 1842 John Edward Gray named a species of boa, Corallus cookii, in Cooke's honor. More

Thomas Bush Hardy
Fishing smacks off Boulogne, c. 1892
13.5 x 21in
Watercolour

Private Collection

A smack was a traditional fishing boat used off the coast of Britain and the Atlantic coast of America for most of the 19th century. In England the sails were white cotton until a proofing coat was applied, usually after the sail was a few years old. This gave the sails its distinctive red ochre colour, which made them a picturesque sight in large numbers. More about smacks

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

Thomas Bush Hardy
La Cote à Wimereux; Fishing boats at sea, c. 1897
12 x 26 in
Oils on board
Private Collection


Wimereux is a coastal town situated some 5 kilometres (3 mi) north of Boulogne, on the banks of the river Wimereux. The river Slack forms the northern boundary of the commune, the English Channel the western. Farming and tourism are its principal activities. More Wimereux

Thomas Bush Hardy (1842, Sheffield – 1897, Maida Vale, London) see above


Thomas Bush Hardy
Unloading the Day's Catch, c. 1893
Watercolour with scratching out
22.3 x 68 cm
Private Collection

Thomas Bush Hardy (1842, Sheffield – 1897, Maida Vale, London) see above

Montague Dawson
THE COLD WHITE BARQUE
24 1/8 by 35 7/8 in.; 61.2 by 91 cm
Oil on canvas
Private Collection


In Ancient Egypt barques were a type of boat used from Egypt's earliest recorded times and are depicted in many drawings, paintings, and reliefs that document the culture. Transportation to the afterlife was believed to be accomplished by way of barques as well, and the image is used in many of the religious murals and carvings in temples and tombs. Many models of these boats, that range from tiny to huge in size, have been found.

A barque became is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts. In the 18th century, the British Royal Navy used the term bark for a nondescript vessel that did not fit any of its usual categories. More barque

Montague Dawson RMSA, FRSA (1890–1973) see above


Montague Dawson
THE COLD WHITE BARQUE
Detail

Montague Dawson RMSA, FRSA (1890–1973) see above

Montague Dawson
The British clipper ship Thermopylae
Watercolor and gouache on paper
16-1/4 x 26 in. (41.2 x 66 cm.)
Private Collection


Thermopylae was an extreme composite clipper ship built in 1868 by Walter Hood & Co of Aberdeen, to the design of Bernard Waymouth of London, for the China tea trade, and set speed records on her maiden voyage to Melbourne—63 days,  In 1872, Thermopylae raced the clipper Cutty Sark from Shanghai back to London. Thermopylae won by seven days after Cutty Sark lost her rudder. From 1882 onward, Thermopylae took part in the Australian wool trade; however, on this route Cutty Sark proved faster.

In 1897 she was sold to Portugal for use as a naval training ship and renamed Pedro Nunes. On 13 October 1907, the Portuguese Navy towed her down the Tagus river using two warships, and before Amelia de Orleans, Queen of Portugal, she was torpedoed with full naval honours off Cascais. More Thermopylae

Montague Dawson RMSA, FRSA (1890–1973) see above


Montague Dawson
The British clipper ship Thermopylae
Detail

Montague Dawson
Far Away - The Black Adder
Oil on canvas
24 x 36 in.(60.9 x 91.4 cm.)
Private Collection


Blackadder was a clipper ship used for fast sailing of cargo.

Montague Dawson RMSA, FRSA (1890–1973) see above


Montague Dawson
Far Away - The Black Adder
Detail

FREDERICK McCUBBIN, 1855 - 1917
AT COLOMBO, c. 1907
Oil on artist's board
24 by 34 cm
Private Collection

Frederick McCubbin visited Colombo, in Ceylon or present day Sri Lanka, en route to Europe in 1907. This was his long awaited, first and only overseas journey. He sailed from Melbourne aboard the Prince Heinrich on 21 May. More

Frederick McCubbin (25 February 1855 – 20 December 1917) was an Australian painter and prominent member of the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian Impressionism. McCubbin was born in Melbourne, and later worked for a time as solicitor's clerk, a coach painter and in his family's bakery business while studying art at the National Gallery of Victoria's School of Design,

By the early 1880s, McCubbin's work began to attract considerable attention and won a number of prizes from the National Gallery, including a first prize in 1883. By the mid-1880s he concentrated more on painting the Australian bush, the works for which he became notable.

In 1888, he became instructor and master of the School of Design at the National Gallery. In this position he taught a number of students who themselves became prominent Australian artists, including Charles Conder and Arthur Streeton.

FREDERICK McCUBBIN, 1855 - 1917
View of Naples , c. 1908
Oil on artist's board
33.5 x 49.5 cm
Private Collection

McCubbin married in March 1889. In 1901 McCubbin and his family moved to Mount Macedon. It was in this beautiful setting, in 1904, that he painted The Pioneer, amongst many other works, and this is the only place that McCubbin ever painted fairiest. It was at Macedon that he was inspired by the surrounding bush to experiment with the light and its effects on colour in nature.

McCubbin continued to paint through the first two decades of the 20th century, though by the beginning of World War I his health began to fail. He traveled to England in 1907 and visited Tasmania, but aside from these relatively short excursions lived most of his life in Melbourne. There he taught at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School. In 1912 he became the founding member of the Australian Art Association. More McCubbin

FREDERICK McCUBBIN, 1855 - 1917
Shipping on the Yarra
Oil on canvas
24 x 34 cm
Private Collection

The Yarra River was a major food source and meeting place for indigenous Australians from prehistoric times. Shortly after the arrival of European settlers land clearing forced the remaining Wurundjeri to neighbouring territories and away from the river. 

The river was utilised primarily for agriculture by early European settlers. The landscape of the river has changed dramatically since 1835. The course has been progressively disrupted and the river widened in places. Today, the mouth and including Swanson and Appleton Docks are used for container shipping by the Port of Melbourne which is the busiest on the continent. The city reach which is inaccessible to larger watercraft, has seen increased use for both transport and recreational boating. More Yarra River

Elie Anatole Pavil, 1873-1948 (Ukrainian, French) 
Port landscape 
Oil on canvas 
27 w: 35 cm
Private Collection

Elie Anatole Pavil, 1873-1948 (Ukrainian, French)  studied at the Julian Academy under Bouguereau in Paris. He was friends with Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley and Monet who admired his works during the expositions. He exhibited at the Salon des Artistes, at the Salon of Independent Artists, and at L’Automne. He won many awards and medals for his works. He also received the ‘Legion d’Honneur’ His works are found in many great collections around the world. The Museum of Modern Art, Paris and the ‘Petit Palais’ have many of his works. More Pavil

Robert Antoine Pinchon, 1886-1943 (French) 
Bridge over the river 
Oil on canvas 
88 w: 116 cm

Robert Antoine Pinchon (July 1, 1886 in Rouen – January 9, 1943 in Bois-Guillaume) was a French Post-Impressionist landscape painter of the Rouen School (l'École de Rouen) who was born and spent most of his life in France. He was consistent throughout his career in his dedication to painting landscapes en plein air (i.e., outdoors). From the age of nineteen (1905 to 1907) he worked in a Fauve style but never deviated into Cubism, and, unlike others, never found that Post-Impressionism did not fulfill his artistic needs. Claude Monet referred to him as "a surprising touch in the service of a surprising eye".

Among his important works are a series of paintings of the River Seine, mostly around Rouen, and landscapes depicting places in or near Upper Normandy. More Pinchon





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