A Fog, with a View of Calshot Castle

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Cabinet Office, Admiralty House

Serres probably painted this somewhat romantic sunset view of Port Mahon, capital of Minorca, in England in 1766 from sketches he made on a visit there, possibly when serving on a Spanish ship some years earlier.

Dominic Serres, marine painter and nephew of the Archbishop of Rheims, was born in Auch, Gascony. He studied at the English Benedictine school at Douai but is thought to have run away and served with the Spanish fleet, before being captured and sent to England as a prisoner of war in c.1750. After his release, he painted views of country houses. In the late 1750s he moved to London, where he was a pupil of marine painter Charles Brooking. He established a reputation for battle scenes during the Seven Years War and the War of American Independence. In 1768, he was one of the founder members of the Royal Academy and in 1780 he was made marine painter to George III. He became librarian of the Royal Academy in 1792, shortly before his death.

Places

England, Calshot Castle, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, The Solent

Subjects

topography, seascape/coastal scene, sunset, flag, fortification, ship

Materials & Techniques

canvas, oil, oil painting

Artist

Dominic Serres (1722 - 1793)

Title

A Fog, with a View of Calshot Castle

Date

1766

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

height: 63.00 cm, width: 101.50 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Agnew's, March 1958

Inscription

br on driftwood: D. Serres 1766

Provenance

With Agnew’s Gallery, London; from whom purchased in March 1958

GAC number

4583