Eight Bells: The Boy at the Helm, from "Illustrated London News"
After Hamilton Macallum British, Scottish
Not on view
Macallum moved to London from Glasgow, after training in a merchant's office for what his father hoped would be a commercial career in India. Instead, the young man escaped to London in 1864 to study at the Royal Academy Schools. This print suggests that he had achieved a solid reputation by 1876. An accomplished sailor, the artist used a small yacht to sketch subjects in western of Scotland and Devon. Eight bells is the nautical term for twelve o'clock and we here see a youth left to tend the tiller at noon, presumably as his shipmates eat lunch. The slack line indicates a light breeze and little danger.
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