Thomas Luny (Circle), A Dutch Man-O’-War & Other Vessels In A Breeze Off A Coast

Thomas Luny (Circle), A Dutch Man-O’-War & Other Vessels In A Breeze Off A CoastThis early 19th century oil painting, by an artist working in the circle of British artist Thomas Luny (1759 1837), depicts several vessels battling the elements amid a breeze. Under a changeable sky, a Dutch Man O War, with sails billowing, makes its way along the coastline two further vessels heel amid challenging conditions. In the foreground, fishermen wait on a jetty, while beyond, a windmill provides further visual interest. Stylistically, this

Legible inscriptions appear to read ‘Per mare per terras’

that the head from that piece was reproduced on stamps

The painting is housed within a later (maybe 19th-century) octagonal frame

Stretcher probably replaced

the Director of the Russian Icon Collection

Royal horses would have been either ceremonial or household

he worked as a teacher at the Münchner Kunstakademie and several of his students went on to become successful

a critic at the Lyon-revue celebrated his roses “of an admirable freshness and transparency” which appeared “always damp with rain and bathed in an opal atmosphere”

17¼” x 20½” / 44cm x 53cm

This charming late 19th-century watercolour by British artist E Wood depicts a beautiful 15th/16th century farmhouse near Godalming in Surrey

The shoreline buildings are delicately modulated in tone

but this is a simple passing moment captured ‘en plein air’ for posterity