Description
Reuben Chappell: Pierhead Painter by Robert Jones
Pierhead Painting is the term applied to the work of artists who specialised in painting portraits of ships for the seamen who manned them. Usually self taught, such artists sought commissions from the men aboard the ships that visited their own port, finishing their paintings before the vessel departed. Characteristically, and in the fashion established for such paintings, the ships depicted are almost universally painted from a broadside view, in fair or foul weather. As would be expected by ship owners and their captains the portraits are exact and technically accurate, and surviving works provide us with a fascinating catalogue of working vessels of the day.
