John Cleve/ey, Sr. (ca. 1711-1777), "A Launching al Deplford," ca. 1757. An Eas/ lndiaman, probably called 1he Prince of Wales from !he fealhers on her slern is lo !he righl. She has (most likely incorreclly) the jack and pendanl of a man-of-war. On her port quarler is a royal yacht al anchor. The ship being launched in !he lefl background is a lwo decker flying /he lraditional flags for launching ships of !he Royal Navy. In the righl foreground /here is a sla/e barge under
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oars. There is anolher version of !his painling al /he National Marilime Museum signed and daled 1757. Cleveley was a native of !he Deplford area on the Thames, where one of !he Royal dockyards was situaled. His specially was views of !he river and dockyard scenes, especially !he colour and pageantry of launchings.
It may be asked why did the English appear to make the genre so much of a national speciality, so that in the end their seascapes would outnumber those by the Dutch and the French, their rivals at sea, and why did they develop a national style? Apart from the obvious answers that Great Britain was an island and depended so much on the sea, there may also be something in the idea that those national characteristics which caused the predominance of portraiture encouraged a similar rather objective view of ships. Over the whole range of this art, painters had to face criticism not so much for their aesthetic effects but for the accuracy of their rigging, or, in their sporting paintings, whether a particular horse's tail was trimmed or, in their portraits, whether a double chin or nose were made too prominent. Retired sea captains would want from sea painters records of the battles in which they had fought or portraits of the ships in which they had served. A letter from Admiral Mundy to George Chambers is typical and illustrates the accuracy professional seamen demanded: "I approve of your drawing of the ship, of the sea, and of the land; they are, in my humble opinion, pretty and very spirited: but I must object to the handling of the sails. Why is the foretopsail not set?-no man of war loosens her foretopsail as a signal for sailing-unless she is in charge of a convoy and at anchor. The jib should be eased a third in on the jib boom-it will look more shipshape in blowing weather. The mizzen or spanker need not be loose, which will shew an ensign at the mizzen peak, whiclh you should hoist and blow upwarctls like your jack at the foretopmast headl-these alterations be so good as to SEA HISTORY, FALL 1978