The Financial Times continues with its The Market series with a short overview of collecting marine paintings. As I have mentioned in the past, these are just quick overviews of the market sector of beginning collectors, but they also have useful content, market info and value tips within them.
The FT reports on marine paintings
The genre was at its height during the 19th century when ships were vital to international trade and their owners and captains were all-powerful
What: The broad church of marine painting spans a period from the 15th century to the present day and its great exponents range from Dutch masters such as Willem van de Velde the Younger – Charles II’s official painter of “sea-fights” – to more recent names such as Montague Dawson and John Steven Dews. Equally wide-ranging is the definition of the genre: a “marine painting” can be anything from a depiction of a naval battle to a rowing boat or even simply waves breaking.
Need to know: Marine painting was at its height during the 19th century when ships were vital to international trade and their owners and captains were all-powerful. Such people often commissioned “portraits” of their most prized vessels, commonly having them painted with great realism and on a large scale for display in their opulent homes. In England, the constant bustle of shipping traffic provided endless subjects for so-called “pier head” painters, who would sketch the vessels they saw, working up the results into highly finished oils. Typical of these was Joseph Heard, who operated in Liverpool – he often painted ships on a tilt in order to show crews at work, so adding interest to the scene. The record for a marine painting at auction was set at £1.59m in 1999 when Sotheby’s sold van de Velde the Younger’s “The Morning Gun” in its December Old Masters sale. More “mainstream” marine paintings are, however, more affordable: works by known names start in the low thousands.
Top tips: Do not expect to make a short-term killing – this is a niche market that mainly attracts buyers with a keen interest in the sea and sailing, who buy for decorative purposes. Prices have remained steady for years. If you have wall space to fill, large paintings are often excellent value – on Tuesday, Bonhams will offer an 11ft Charles Pears canvas showing famous racing yachts of the late 1920s, such as Sir Thomas Lipton’s “Shamrock” and George V’s “Britannia”, with a pre-sale estimate of £15,000-£20,000; pictured is “Slashing Along – The Sceptre” by Montague Dawson (1890-1973).
Pitfalls: Few dealers specialise in marine paintings, which means that true expertise is hard to come by.
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