John cleveley and the art of marine painting
A Ship Between Land and Sea
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These two famous ships were part of an artistic tradition that was already several centuries old by 1771. HMS Resolution and HMS Discovery were the ships that carried Captain James Cook to Hawaii on his third and final voyage to the Pacific. Although this painting was by another British painter, Samuel Atkins, John Clevely painted many similar scenes. He, Atkins, and others like Richard Paton were part of a Maritime or Marine School that produced portraits of famous ships, important sea battles, shipwrecks, and like Cleveley, launchings.
Those on the Museum Walkway will quickly recognize another marine painting, this one The Battle of Lagos, by Richard Paton. Waikoloa's reproduction is faithful to the original and depicts a battle between the Royal Navy and the French Navy off Lagos, Portugal in 1759. Battle scenes like this one were very popular and John Cleveley and his sons, John, Jr. and Robert also painted famous battles.
Look at the Waikoloa painting. The vessel closest to us has entered the water but is not yet ready for sea. It lacks the masts, rigging, stores, crew, and equipment that will complete it. Small boats gather around the hull to control and move a massive object that has just left the slipway. Flags supply color and ceremony while the unfinished hull displays the shipwright’s work.
Maritime or Marine Painting in its Prime
The Luxborough Galley on Fire, one of a series of paintings done by John Cleveley that documented the loss of a slave ship between Jamaica and England in 1727. Most of the crew was lost in the fire or later in an overcrowded small boat.
three marine painters
The paintings on this page come from two different continents and different schools, but both evoke strong feelings about men, ships, and the sea, the theme that was at the heart of marine painting. John Cleveley, Sr. was known for his "documentary style," his attention to details and accurate depiction of the ships that were always at the center of his paintings. Winslow Homer, on the other hand, prominently features people in his famous "Breezing Up," with the details of the ship in the background reduced to four triangular shapes, and the boat in the foreground is not some
Joseph Mallard William Turner (1175-1851), painted in the English Romantic style and was known for his dramatic use of light and atmospheric color rather than strict attention to detail. His impression of a British warship very similar to Cleveley's Grafton is almost spectral, the ship itself already a ghost as she is towed behind a steam tug to the place where she will be broken up. Both of these artists beautifully convey emotion and bring the viewer into the scene.
John Cleveley centered most of his work at Deptford, where he was employed as a shipwright and carpenter. Aside from a few battle scenes and some renderings of t sea, he stayed close to his roots. His two talented sons, twins John Jr. and Robert, however, took their talents far and wide, painting maritime scenes from the Arctic Ocean to New Zealand.
Joseph Mallard William Turner (1175-1851), painted in the English Romantic style and was known for his dramatic use of light and atmospheric color rather than strict attention to detail. His impression of a British warship very similar to Cleveley's Grafton is almost spectral, the ship itself already a ghost as she is towed behind a steam tug to the place where she will be broken up. Both of these artists beautifully convey emotion and bring the viewer into the scene.
John Cleveley centered most of his work at Deptford, where he was employed as a shipwright and carpenter. Aside from a few battle scenes and some renderings of t sea, he stayed close to his roots. His two talented sons, twins John Jr. and Robert, however, took their talents far and wide, painting maritime scenes from the Arctic Ocean to New Zealand.
Breezing Up, by American artist Winslow Homer
The Fighting Temeraire, by JMW Turner, easily the most famous marine painting, documented a noted British warship being towed to the breaker's yard at the end of her life.
ON YOUR MAP
Next Object on the Walkway Highlights TourStop 17 - Chinese Trade Paintings
Next Stop: Chinese trade paintings
Just a short walk ahead in Gallery 3
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