Portsmouth Harbour: The Hulks

Portsmouth Harbour: The Hulks
ArtistEdward William Cooke
Year1836
TypeOil on panel, maritime painting
Dimensions29.9 cm × 40.6 cm (11.8 in × 16.0 in)
LocationVictoria and Albert Museum, London

Portsmouth Harbour: The Hulks is an oil on canvas landscape painting by the English artist Edward William Cooke, from 1836. It is held at the Victoria and Albert Museum, in London.[1]

History and description

Depicting a scene of the British naval base of Portsmouth, it includes former French frigate Étoile, captured by the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, and now reduced to a hulk.[2][3]

Cooke was a protégé of the artist Clarkson Stanfield, who became known for his maritime scenes. He also did several similar paintings.[4] Stanfield had also painted the port in his 1831 work Portsmouth Harbour.[5]

The painting was displayed at the British Institution's annual exhibition held at Pall Mall in 1837 and an engraving was produced based on it.[6] It was acquired by the art collector John Sheepshanks. Today is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington having been acquired as part of a major gift by Sheepshanks in 1857.[7]

References

Bibliography

  • Munday, John. Edward William Cooke: A Man of His Time. Antique Collectors' Club, 1996.
  • Roe, Sonia. Oil Paintings in Public Ownership in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Public Catalogue Foundation, 2008.
  • Van der Merwe, Pieter & Took, Roger. The Spectacular Career of Clarkson Stanfield. Tyne and Wear County Council Museums, 1979.