Hulks and Other Shipping in a Busy Harbour

Artist Samuel Prout (British, 1783 - 1852)

Datec 1814

Object number00006809

NamePainting

MediumWatercolour on paper

DimensionsOverall: 683 × 1004 mm, 3.6 kg
Mount / Matt size (G Fini mount): 900 × 1249 mm

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineANMM Collection

Collections

Ship portraits

Terms

DescriptionWatercolour by Samuel Prout (1783-1852) showing a convict hulk. The harbour is most likely Plymouth. HistorySamuel Prout was a painter in watercolour, sepia, wash and etchings. Born on 7 September 1783 at Plymouth, England, his early interest in painting was encouraged by J.Bidlake, Headmaster of the Plymouth Grammer School. In 1796 he witnessed the wreck of and the rescue of survivors from the East India man DUTTON which became the subject of many paintings and drawings in his later life. At 18 a school friend Benjamin Haydon introduced him to the antiquarian John Britton, who employed him to make drawings of local architecture. In 1802 he moved to London to study and work with Britton returning to Devon in 1805 due to ill health which was to dog him throughout his life. By 1808 he was back in London exhibiting at the Royal Acadamy, the British Institution and especially the Old Watercolour Society. Before 1818 his work commonly included a number of marines and coastal views. In 1819 he made his first visit to France which led him to specialize in scenes of romantic and classical ruins. These are the subjects in which he was most influential and by which he is best known. His style was particularly suited to lithographic reproduction and his work illustrated a number of publications. His work was particularly admired by Ruskin. He was appointed Painter in Water colour to King George IV and Queen Victoria. Samuel Prout was the uncle of John Skinner Prout (1806-1876) and had some influence on the development of the latter's style. He died on 10 February 1852 at Camberwell, England. .SignificanceSamuel Prout was a prolific artist and there are examples, though not necessarily marines, in nearly every
major public collection in the UK. There is a collection of his drawings at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich