Sailing Gallery

Henry Scott Tuke's French brigantine 'Julie of Nantes' at the Mill Dam, Falmouth, Cornwall. Around 1886

The artist, Henry Scott Tuke (1858-1929), purchased Julie of Nantes in 1886 for use as a floating studio. It is thought that he can be seen standing at the bow of the ship. Henry Scott Tuke was born into a Quaker family in Lawrence Street, York. In 1859 the family moved to Falmouth, where his father Daniel Tuke, a physician, established a practice. Tuke was encouraged to draw and paint from an early age and some of his earliest drawings, aged four or five years old, were published in 1895. In 1875, he enrolled in the Slade School of Art. Initially his father paid for his tuition but in 1877 Tuke won a scholarship, which allowed him to continue his training at the Slade and in Italy in 1880. From 1881 to 1883 he was in Paris where he met the artist Jules Bastien-Lepage, who encouraged him to paint en plein air (in the open air) a method of working that came to dominate his practice. While studying in France, Tuke decided to move to Newlyn Cornwall where many of his Slade and Parisian friends had already formed the Newlyn School of painters. He received several lucrative commissions there, after exhibiting his work at the Royal Academy of Art in London. In 1885, he returned to Falmouth where many of his major works were produced. He became an established artist and was elected to full membership of the Royal Academy in 1914. Tuke suffered a heart attack in 1928 and died in March 1929. In his will he left generous amounts of money to some of the men who, as boys, had been his models. Today he is remembered mainly for his oil paintings of young men, but in addition to his achievements as a figurative painter, he was an established maritime artist and produced as many portraits of sailing ships as he did human figures. He was a prolific artist, over 1,300 works are listed and more are still being discovered. Photographer: Unknown.

© From the collection of the RIC

Timber Barque off Pendennis, Henry Scott Tuke (1858-1929)

Oil on canvas, Newlyn School, 1897. Henry Scott Tuke was born into a Quaker family in Lawrence Street, York. In 1859 the family moved to Falmouth, where his father Daniel Tuke , a physician, established a practice. Tuke was encouraged to draw and paint from an early age and some of his earliest drawings, aged four or five years old, were published in 1895. In 1875, he enrolled in the Slade School of Art. Initially his father paid for his tuition but in 1877 Tuke won a scholarship, which allowed him to continue his training at the Slade and in Italy in 1880. From 1881 to 1883 he was in Paris where he met the artist Jules Bastien-Lepage, who encouraged him to paint en plein air (in the open air) a method of working that came to dominate his practice. While studying in France, Tuke decided to move to Newlyn, Cornwall where many of his Slade and Parisian friends had already formed the Newlyn School of painters. He received several lucrative commissions there, after exhibiting his work at the Royal Academy of Art in London. In 1885, he returned to Falmouth where many of his major works were produced. He became an established artist and was elected to full membership of the Royal Academy in 1914. Tuke suffered a heart attack in 1928 and died in March 1929. In his will he left generous amounts of money to some of the men who, as boys, had been his models. Today he is remembered mainly for his oil paintings of young men, but in addition to his achievements as a figurative painter, he was an established maritime artist and produced as many portraits of sailing ships as he did human figures. He was a prolific artist, over 1,300 works are listed and more are still being discovered.

© RIC

The Shrimper, Richard Harry Carter (1839–1911)

Oil on canvas, English School. Richard Harry Carter was born in Truro and became one of the buyers in Cornwall of copper for the smelting firm of Vivian & Sons, Swansea. His spare time was spent sketching around Cornwall. After a number of years, he relinquished his business appointment and devoted himself entirely to his painting. Carter's early works were chiefly sea and coastal subjects, painted in watercolour, but later he expanded his genre to include figures and oil painting. Carter was also influenced by the work of Charles Napier Hemy whose style and subjects he greatly admired and whose yacht studio he frequently visited. Many of his best works were painted in Scotland and the Shetland Isles. He also visited Volendam and Dordrecht where he found new subjects to paint. Carter exhibited at the Royal Academy for eleven years and at the New Watercolour Society, now known as the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, for eighteen years. His watercolours were often on a monumental scale, often over six feet long.

© RIC