The OLIVER CROMWELL in a Gale

Artist Frederick Garling (1806 - 1873)

Date1847

Object number00055455

NamePainting

Mediumwatercolour and gouache on paper, cardboard

DimensionsOverall: 350 × 505 × 2 mm

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection Gift from the Lumsden family

Collections

Ship portraits

Terms

DescriptionWatercolour painting by Frederick Garling titled 'The OLIVER CROMWELL in a Gale'. The ship portrait features the original commissioning inscriptions and reveals the importance of ships and shipping in the development of the NSW and Australian colonies in the mid 19th century. HistoryIn June 1847 the 527 ton Scottish-built OLIVER CROMWELL arrived in Sydney from London on its maiden voyage with much-needed supplies of foodstuffs, mercantile goods and building materials. Described as 'a beautiful ship', the Australian (8 July 1847) devoted an article to its design virtues after being shown on board by its part owner and master Alexander Alexander. The ship, its clipper bow and its ability to weather the succession of adverse gales on its outward passage attracted a lot of public attention, with the reviewer exhorting 'all who take an interest in nautical improvements to pay a visit'. All in all the presence of the ship in port proved a great lure for Garling, the encyclopaedic Harbour chronicler always looking for notable subjects. Garling depicted the drama of ship reefed down in a gale on its outward voyage. In 1849, a work by Garling entitled 'The OLIVER CROMWELL in a gale' was lent by a Mr Jobson to the second exhibition for the Society for the Promotion of the Fine Arts in Australia. The ship portrait was described by the reviewer in the Sydney Morning Herald 2 June 1849 as 'the only bit from the pencil of a gentlemen who, born and educated in the colony, is more particularly identified with colonial art. It is a pleasing drawing, clear, free and easy, but the water is somewhat deficient in transparency and colour.' Garling was in fact born in England and arrived in Sydney as a child in 1815 with his family and father Frederick Senior, appointed Crown Solicitor in the colony. His work as a landing waiter and from 1849 landing surveyor for the Customs office meant that he was often around the Harbour, and from 1853 he was living on its upper reaches commuting to Sydney Cove by boat. He advertised as a marine artist, supplementing his income with commissions many from ship masters or owners for paintings of their ships, such as the newly built OLIVER CROMWELL. The OLIVER CROMWELL, 527 tons three masted wooden sailing ship, was built in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1847 by Messrs Walter Hood & Co for George Thompson jnr and Alexander Alexander ship master. Its first voyage was to Australia in June 1847 under Captain Alexander and it is likely that this work was painted by Garling on this visit because the ship did not sail into the Harbour again until 1850 and the view of 'the OLIVER CROMWELL in a gale of wind' was exhibited in July 1849. SignificanceThis ship portrait is an important work by Frederick Garling, one of colonial Australia's most accomplished and prolific maritime artists as one of the very few works by the artist exhibited in a gallery context, that of the Society for the Promotion of Fine Arts in Australia in 1849.