HMS Sutherland leaving New York for Halifax

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

A man in the foreground of this work gestures towards 'HMS Sutherland', a 50-gun ship of the British Royal Navy. The ship was built at Rotherhithe in London and launched on 15 October 1741. It is here depicted departing New York in 1758 for Halifax, Nova Scotia, where British forces assembled and trained in preparation for the Siege of Louisbourg. The operation was a pivotal battle of the Seven Years' War (or French and Indian War; 1756-63). The 1758 conflict between France and Britain ended French rule in Canadian Atlantic provinces, leading to France’s loss of Quebec in 1759 and of the remainder of French North America the following year.

Marine painter Robert Wilkins painted scenes set in various parts of the world. He exhibited 84 works between 1765 and 1782 at the Society of Arts in London (where he was awarded a prize in 1765) and five works at the Royal Academy from 1772 to 1781. He is also known to have painted still-lifes of fruit, birds and fish, although there are now few known examples of these works. In the 1780s he illustrated James ‘Athenian’ Stuart’s treatises on Hellenic antiquities. His latest known work, ‘Man of War off the Coast with Fishermen’, is signed and dated 1799. He is believed to have died shortly after its completion.

Places

United States of America, New York City, New York, Atlantic Ocean

Subjects

HMS 'Sutherland', crate, barrel, topography, genre, seascape/coastal scene, man, ensign (ship), flag, harbour, sailboat, ship

Materials & Techniques

canvas, oil, oil painting

Artist

Robert Wilkins (c.1740 - after 1788)

Title

HMS Sutherland leaving New York for Halifax

Date

c.1760

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

height: 53.00 cm, width: 79.00 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from the Parker Gallery, October 1961

GAC number

5645