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Fine artThe National Maritime Museum's fine art collection consists of contemporary art, miniatures, oil paintings, photography, prints, drawings, watercolours and sculpture. Browse the entire collection or: View by:
About this collectionThe National Maritime Museum's fine art collection consists of contemporary art, miniatures, oil paintings, photography, prints, drawings, watercolours and sculpture. There are over 4500 oil paintings which cover the period 1530-2000, the earliest of which is a Flemish artist's depiction of Portuguese ships from about 1530. The collection includes an important group of 17th-century Dutch and Flemish marine paintings. The group traces the development of this speciality in the Netherlands and its introduction into England by the van de Veldes in the 1670s. Marine painting was firmly established in England in the mid-18th century. It is represented here with works by artists such as Peter Monamy, Samuel Scott, Charles Brooking, Dominic Serres and many others who painted not only ships and the sea, but also sea battles such as those during the Seven Years War (1756-63). Alongside these is an important collection of portraits, the earliest of which date from the Tudor and Stuart period, including major royal portraits and examples by Peter Lely, notably the flagmen of Lowestoft series commissioned by James Duke of York after the battle in 1665. Among the 18th-century portraits of naval officers are examples by Hogarth, Reynolds and Gainsborough. William Hodges's paintings made during and after Captain Cook's second voyage to the South Seas 1772-75 are some of the most exciting images connected with early exploration. In the late 18th century and through the 19th century, the painting of 'ship portraits' was another distinct branch of marine painting. The Museum's large collection of these is valuable for the study of merchant shipping and trade. The Museum's most famous picture is J. M. W. Turner's painting of the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, painted for George IV in 1823, the largest picture the artist painted. The influence of Turner and the Romantic Movement is reflected in works in the collection by George Chambers, Clarkson Stanfield and John Wilson Carmichael. The late 19th-century and early 20th-century period is represented with works by William Lionel Wyllie, Charles Dixon and John Everett. Among the most artistically important 20th-century paintings are those commissioned during the Second World War by the War Artists Advisory Committee. Many of these introduce a more human element into the depiction of the conflict, for example Bernard Hailstone's portrait of Big Ben, the bargee and his wife. The collection includes works by Richard Eurich, Henry Lamb and John Worsley, some painted in a prison camp. During the late 20th century the art collection was augmented with works by L.S. Lowry, Alfred Wallis, Edward Wadsworth and others, as well as by recently commissioned pictures by John Wonnacott and Humphrey Ocean. Researchers are welcome to study items but an appointment must be made in advance. Please contact the E-library for further information. Telephone: +44 (0) 20 8312 6516 Related websites |
![PU3532 'Thos Scott [of the] Wager Ward' [at Greenwich Hospital] ©National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London](http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/images/100/PU/35/PU3532.jpg)
