Mallett Autumn 2008
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THOMAS LUNY A Privateer Cutter in the Downs off Walmer Castle Signed and dated 1779 Oil on canvas Unframed: 36 x 55in (91 x 137cm) In a fine gilded Georgian frame
Exhibited at the Royal Academy 1780 number 344 as A Privateer Cutter. This was Luny's first London exhibit, and was sent from his lodgings at The Anchor, Hope Street, St. George's, Middlesex. Thomas Luny (1759-1837) was born in London in 1759 and was trained by the distinguished marine painter Francis Holman. Luny's early paintings have very much the feel of his master, though his palette tends to be slightly lighter. He started
exhibiting at the Society of Artists in 1778 and at the Royal Academy in 1780 – his paintings were exhibited there every year until 1793, the year of the outbreak of the French Revolutionary War. Luny volunteered for service with the Navy, with whom by now he had an intimate acquaintance as a painter - most of his patrons were navy men. He seems to have produced no more paintings from this date until about 1802, when he once more sent a
picture to the Royal Academy. Paintings before Luny joined the Navy are both rarer and finer than those he produced after the end of his service and the reason is not hard to find. He retired from the Navy with severe arthritis in his hands, and this caused a diminution in the ‘fineness’ of his paintings, which after c.1805 become much broader in treatment. It seems likely that he retired to his studio in Teignmouth to be near his former Captain and mentor,