An Atmospheric c.1920s Impasto Oil on Board of RMS Titanic at Quayside
SOLD
Origin: British
Period: Early Twentieth Century
Provenance: Unknown
Date: 1915-35
Height: 11.5 inches
Width: 16 inches
The impasto oil on board presented in its original oak frame depicts RMS Titanic at Quayside setting on her maiden voyage set against a foamy sea and fluffy sky with figures watching her depart on the dockside being apparently unsigned and surviving from the early twentieth century.
The painting is in good overall condition, it being board it remains undamaged, though the frame is a little rickety.
The impasto style is buoyant and the flagrant use of colour uplifting. The artist has used the boards base of brown to good use by leaving certain areas unpainted which is technique well loved by lots of old masters. There were many pictures painted in the aftermath of the disaster but one does not see too many in this style.
Owned by the White Star Line, RMS Titanic was the largest passenger steamship in the world when she set off on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, U.S.A., on 10 April 1912. Four days into the crossing, at 23:40 on 14 April 1912, she struck an iceberg and sank at 2:20 the following morning, resulting in the deaths of 1,517 people in one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history.
This is a charming and cheerfully breezy depiction of the ship, the artist clearly trying to remember the ship and her passengers in a happy and joyful light despite her tragic foundering.