View of the Town and Harbour of Liverpool, from Seacombe

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Home Office, 2 Marsham Street

The view shows Liverpool from Seacombe, a ward in the district of Wallasey, Merseyside. Seacombe is on the edge of the River Mersey and positioned at one of the narrowest points in the river. The first ferry to cross the Mersey from Seacombe to Liverpool is recorded in the ‘Domesday Book’ of 1086 and the service continues today. The group of people standing on the riverside to the left of the composition may well be waiting for the next Seacombe ferry.

The artist of this work, John P. Jenkinson, also drew the design for a print titled ‘View of Liverpool from the Magazines’ (artillery stores). The print, also engraved by T. Dixon, was published four years before this work in 1816.

John P. Jenkinson, marine and portrait painter, worked in Liverpool from the late 18th century to the early 19th century. Although now considered an important Liverpool artist, little is known of his life and career. Many of his works are unsigned or the signature is hidden and this has often led to them being wrongly attributed to another Liverpool based marine painter, Robert Salmon (1775-c.1845). Jenkinson became a member of the Liverpool Academy and exhibited there between 1810 and 1814. He died in 1821. Today, his paintings can be found in the Merseyside Maritime Museum, Liverpool, and the Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston.
T. Dixon is probably Thomas Dixon, an engraver who produced prints after several views of Liverpool, published in the 1820s and 1830s, including views of ‘The Exchange Buildings and Nelson's Monument’ and ‘The Corn Exchange, Brunswick Street’, both part of the publication ‘Lancashire Illustrated’, issued in parts from 1829 to 1831.

Places

England, Liverpool, Merseyside

Subjects

rowing boat, cart, topography, seascape/coastal scene, townscape/cityscape, cow, dog, horse, donkey, sheep, man, woman, quay, harbour, church, dome, sailboat, ship

Materials & Techniques

engraving, coloured engraving

Artist

John P Jenkinson ( - 1821)
T Dixon

Title

View of the Town and Harbour of Liverpool, from Seacombe

Date

published 13 November 1820

Medium

Coloured engraving

Dimensions

height: 26.90 cm, width: 41.60 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Baynton-Williams, January 1976

GAC number

12140