Fire at sea

1820–46

Not on view

Stanfield went to sea at eleven to escape apprenticeship to a drunken coach painter, was pressed into the Royal Navy in 1812, then took up scene painting at the Royalty Theatre, London after being discharged for injury in 1816. Known for stunning romantic effects, often created in partnership with David Roberts, the artist introduced moving dioramas into Christmas pantomimes and Easter spectacles, titled "Adventures of a Ship of War" (1825), "Napoleon’s Passage of the Simplon" (1830) and "Niagara" (1832). While touring painted panoramas around major British and European cities, Stanfield contributed to the exhibitions of the British Institution and Royal Academy, and was elected Associate at the latter in 1835 through the support of the "Sailor King" William IV. In 1844, he became first curator of the Naval Gallery at Greenwich. "Fire at Sea" combines visual drama with a knowledge of ships and the sea and once belonged to a family friend, the abolitionist Thomas Clarkson.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

References

Title: Fire at sea
Artist: Clarkson Stanfield (British, Sunderland 1793–1867 London)
Date: 1820–46
Medium: Watercolor and gouache (bodycolor) on beige paper
Dimensions: Sheet (approx.): 16 3/4 × 12 3/8 in. (42.5 × 31.5 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Gift of Robert Tuggle, in memory of Charles Ryskamp, 2014
Object Number: 2014.702
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

By Clarkson Stanfield

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Entrance to the Zuyder Zee

Clarkson Stanfield

Leighton Brothers

1869

Lake of Thun looking North, Clarkson Stanfield British, Graphite — Lake of Thun looking North
Clarkson Stanfield
1820–67

The Diving Bell, Used at the Thames Tunnel after the Irruption of Water on the 18th of May, 1827, Rotherhithe Church in the Distance

Multiple artists/makers

1832

Stanfield's Coast Scenery: A Series of Views in the British Channel, from "Original Drawings Taken Expresssly for the Work"

Multiple artists/makers

1836

The Lake of Zug, Joseph Mallord William Turner British, Watercolor and bodycolor (gouache) with reductive techniques over graphite — The Lake of Zug
Joseph Mallord William Turner
1843

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