01 Classic Works of Art, Marine Paintings - Samuel Scott, BATH SHIPPING AT ANCHOR IN THE THAMES ESTUARY, NEAR WAPPING, With Footnotes 11

Samuel Scott, LONDON CIRCA 1702-1772 BATH
SHIPPING AT ANCHOR IN THE THAMES ESTUARY, NEAR WAPPING
oil on canvas
198 x 211 cm.; 78 x 83 in.

Painted on a grand scale, just left of centre a British 6th rate naval vessel lies at anchor in the Thames, a long naval pennant trailing in the breeze and the red ensign at its stern. The ship is raising anchor, its sails hoisted, as men scramble about the upper rigging and work the sheets from the deck in a frantic effort to make ready and catch the outgoing tide. The same ship recurs in a number of Scott's works, with subtle alterations transforming it from naval vessel to merchantman and back again.   More

Samuel Scott, LONDON CIRCA 1702-1772 BATH
SHIPPING AT ANCHOR IN THE THAMES ESTUARY, NEAR WAPPING
Detail, Center

The ship is raising anchor, its sails hoisted, as men scramble about the upper rigging and work the sheets from the deck in a frantic effort to make ready and catch the outgoing tide.

Samuel Scott, LONDON CIRCA 1702-1772 BATH
SHIPPING AT ANCHOR IN THE THAMES ESTUARY, NEAR WAPPING
Detail, Left

Left of centre a British 6th rate naval vessel lies at anchor in the Thames, a long naval pennant trailing in the breeze and the red ensign at its stern. 

Samuel Scott, LONDON CIRCA 1702-1772 BATH
SHIPPING AT ANCHOR IN THE THAMES ESTUARY, NEAR WAPPING
Detail, Left

The 6th rater fires a salute, whilst on deck a lady can be seen being welcomed on board. 

Samuel Scott, LONDON CIRCA 1702-1772 BATH
SHIPPING AT ANCHOR IN THE THAMES ESTUARY, NEAR WAPPING
Detail, Left

These vessels were small Royal Navy warships, mounting between 20 and 24 nine-pounder guns on a single deck, sometimes with guns on the upper works as well. These ship-rigged vessels, sometimes called 'post-ships', typically held a crew of between 150 and 240 men. In the foreground the composition is dominated by a number of smaller craft loading the ships, ferrying crew out to their vessels, delivering timber and all the necessary tasks required to re-fit and prepare a ship for sea

Samuel Scott, LONDON CIRCA 1702-1772 BATH
SHIPPING AT ANCHOR IN THE THAMES ESTUARY, NEAR WAPPING
Detail, Lower Left

Samuel Scott, LONDON CIRCA 1702-1772 BATH
SHIPPING AT ANCHOR IN THE THAMES ESTUARY, NEAR WAPPING
Detail, Right

To the right lies a Dutch flute, the merchantman Expedition, with a British buss behind.

Samuel Scott (1702 – 12 October 1772) was a British landscape painter known for his riverside scenes and seascapes. He was born in London, and began painting around 1720. He started as a maritime artist, painting men-of-war and other ships on calm seas. He also painted a set of six pictures of settlements owned by the East India Company in collaboration with George Lambert.

In the early 1740s, Scott began making sketches of London, especially of the new Westminster Bridge, then under construction. Between 1761 and 1771 he exhibited three works at the Society of Artists, one at the Free Society of artists, and one, A View of the Tower of London, at the Royal Academy in 1771. He was called the father of English watercolour, but his chief works were in oil. Some of Scott's most celebrated paintings were his depictions of scenes during the War of Jenkins' Ear.

Scott earned a considerable reputation for his shore and river scenes, which were well-drawn and painted, and enlivened with figures. More













Acknowledgement: Sotheby's
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