Reginald Arthur Henry Borstel

Reginald Arthur Henry Borstel was born in Sydney, Australia, the son of a master mariner. He originally served as a seaman before becoming one of a group of artists employed by the Adelaide Photo Company of Sydney. He worked from photographs to create oil paintings depicting ships in often stormy seas. Borstel was most active from 1890 to 1917. He was often commissioned by ship captains and owners to record the last days of the great sailing ships. He worked from his studio in Sydney producing ship portraits which appeared on postcards, advertisements and posters. He later moved to Newcastle where he specialised in portraits of sailing vessels.