- 50
Samuel Walters
Estimate
12,000 - 18,000 GBP
bidding is closed
Description
- Samuel Walters
- The British Merchantman Clifford in a stiff breeze, preparing to pick up her pilot off the Great Orme, North Wales, on the return from her maiden voyage to India
- signed and dated, lower left: S WALTERS 1865
- oil on canvas
Provenance
Anne Etches, Harleyholm, Strathclyde, 1865;
Mrs D. Peake;
By whom sold, London, Bonhams, 12 January 1989, lot 353, for £18,000;
With Richard Green, London;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's South Kensington, 5 May 1994, lot 165, where unsold.
Mrs D. Peake;
By whom sold, London, Bonhams, 12 January 1989, lot 353, for £18,000;
With Richard Green, London;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's South Kensington, 5 May 1994, lot 165, where unsold.
Literature
A. S. Davidson, Samuel Walters, Marine Artist : Fifty Years of Sea, Sail & Steam, Coventry 1992, p. 132, reproduced.
Catalogue Note
The iron ship Clifford was built by the renowned Liverpool firm Thomas Royden & Sons in 1864. Walters portrays the vessel here flying the Royden house flag with the pilot jack at the foremast; the pilot cutter itself is pictured in the distance converging on the same tack. The mountains of North Wales may be seen above the Little Orme on the extreme left, while the Great Orme projects towards the ship's bowsprit and the coastal town of Llandudno lies in between. Astern of the ship is the north-west corner of the Anglesey coast.
This composition proved an enduring favourite with both Walters and his clientele. The present painting is a particularly luminous and fluent example of a scene that the artist painted under a variety of weather conditions, which serve also to chart the development of the artist's technical ability.