''The Great Age of Sail'' A Remarkable Sampling of the World's Great Marine Art from England's National Maritime Museum Will Come To America in 1992 by Roger Quarm, Curator of Paintings National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
"The Great Age of Sail," showing at San Diego, Norfolk and Salem, provides the opportunity to see the greatest maritime paintings in the collections of the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich-pictures of the sea and ships and portraits of famous men connected with the sea, supported by ship models and decorative and navigational items. The exhibition uses the Museum 's collections to illustrate central themes, such as "Man 's Encounter with the Elements," "War at Sea," "Shipbuilding and Navigation," "Exploration," "Sailing," etc. But, implicit in all this, another un-named theme is evident, for the exhibition also examines the emergence and development of marine painting, first in the Netherlands and then in England, during a period spanning four hundred years. Although the National Maritime Museum opened comparatively recently in 1937, over the centuries Greenwich has provided a background strongly associated with the production of marine paintings, and it has also provided a magnificent setting for them to be displayed since the early years of the nineteenth century. The star of the exhibition will undoubtedly be Turner's great set piece, "The Battle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805," commissioned by King George IV in 1823 to hang in St. James's Palace, London. Turner's exploitation of the sea for dramatic and atmospheric effect in his paintings is almost legendary , but "Trafalgar" posed rather different problems; it had, to a considerable degree, to be factual, and nearly twenty years had passed since the battle. Turner tried hard to get things right, approaching the marine painter John Christian Schetky at Portsmouth for drawings of the Victory as she lay in the harbor. (Schetky's work is also represented in the exhibition.) But Turner had not bargained for hi s audience and foremost among them was the King' s brother, the Duke of Clarence, lat~ r King William IV, a patron of Robert Cleveley and later of George Chambers. As Lord High Admiral, he was a naval officer and had served at sea for some years during the 1780s when he knew Nelson. He also shared the naval officer's attitude to marine painting that it should be correct in all its detail, from the rigging to the gun smoke, and Turner's picture was not, mainly because the Victory was shown standing too high out of the water, which is precisely how Schetky had seen her at Portsmouth. Turner's "Trafalgar," it could be argued, is almost the antithesis of what the marine painter was expected to produce for this patron. In any case, only a few years later, in 1829, George IV decided to present the picture to the newly established gallery of marine pictures at Greenwich Hospital. In 1992 the picture will leave Greenwich for the first time. Greenwich Hospital, founded by William and Mary in 1694 as a home for seamen-the naval counterpart of Chelsea Hospital for old soldiers-was built by Sir Christopher Wren and others on the site of the old Tudor royal palace of Placentia. Its buildings, as completed in the middle of the 18th century, can be seen from across a busy River Thames in Canaletto 's "Greenwich Hospital from the North Bank of the Thames." Wren's domes rise above the river where the shipping and activity are worthy of close inspection. 22
Here, in 1795, Nelson's friend William Locker, Lieutenant-Governor of the hospital, suggested there should be "a National Gallery of Marine Paintings, to commemorate the eminent services of the Royal Navy of England." In the event, the idea was not realized unti I 1821, when a gallery was established in the Painted Hall-the great dining hall decorated with paintings by Sir James Thornhill-and in the ensuing years both King George IV and William IV gave pictures generously from the Royal Collection. The public were admitted to see the collection for the sum of threepence. Additional paintings of worthy events were commissioned. Notable among these was "The Bombardment of Algiers, 27 August 1816," which George Chambers was asked to paint in 1836. Like Turner, the ri sing young marine painter went to great pains to get the detail right, travelling more than two hundred miles to Plymouth to make studies of men of war, but, like Turner, Chambers did not entirely manage to please the naval fraternity at Greenwich. The Greenwich Hospital Collection now forms the core of the picture collection of the National Maritime Museum, which has been augmented to represent the full range of marine painting, both English and Dutch . Bridging these two, major works by Willem van de Velde the Elder (1611-93) and Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633- 1707) have been acq uired. These artists, having worked for the Dutch government depicting shipping and sea battles, "changed sides," coming to England during the winter of 1672/3 to work for Charles II and his brother James, Duke of York (later James II), who was then Lord High Admiral. Living and working at Greenwich , probably in the Queen 's House, which in Canaletto 's picture can be seen right in the center in the distance, and which is now part of the Museum, the Van de Veldes undertook a wide range of work which is reflected in "The Great Age of Sail." This included ship portraits such as the Younger's picture of the Royal Escape, a vessel particularly close to the heart of Charles II, since it was in her, then a collier, that he escaped to France in 1651. He renamed and adopted her as a yacht as a reminder of this adventure at the Restoration in 1660. Royal events also provided subjects. "The Departure of William of Orange and Princess Mary for Holland, 19 November 1677," a beautiful, luminous scene set in the Thames estuary, portrays the moment when Charles II and the Duke of York have just taken their leave of the Duke's daughter, Princess Mary, following her marriage. It is a "calm sunny day." Thecoupleareaboard the central vessel, the yacht Mary, but so too is the Elder Van de Velde, who sai led with them to Holland making drawings on the way. The picture is almost an allegory of the now peaceful relations between England and Holland reflected in the marriage. By complete contrast, nothing could be more warlike than the Younger's piece de resistance, the great "Battle of the Texel, 11 August 1673," the last battle of the third AngloDutch war, fought between the Dutch on one side and the English and French on the other. Painted entirely by the Younger in 1687 and therefore a retrospective depiction of the SEA HISTORY 60, WINTER 1991-92