Samuel Scott - A Danish Timber Bark Getting Under Way

Samuel Scott (c. 1702 – 12 October 1772) was a British landscape painter known for his riverside scenes and

seascapes ''Seascapes'' is a weekly 30-minute Irish radio programme covering maritime matters broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 on Fridays at 22:30 and formerly presented by the award-winning presenter Tom MacSweeney. The programme deals with all subjects of ma ...

Early life

Scott was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, and began painting around 1720. Nothing is known of his artistic training. He started as a maritime artist, painting men-of-war and other ships on calm seas in the style of Willem van de Velde, many of whose drawings he owned. He also painted a set of six pictures of settlements owned by the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

in collaboration with George Lambert. Scott painted the ships, Lambert the buildings and landscape. Writing in 1733,

George Vertue George Vertue (1684 – 24 July 1756) was an English engraver and antiquary, whose notebooks on British art of the first half of the 18th century are a valuable source for the period. Life Vertue was born in 1684 in St Martin-in-the-Fields ...

included Scott among London's "most elevated men in art". From 27 to 31 May 1732, he made a celebrated "Five days' Peregrination" to the

Medway Medway is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial county of Kent in South East England. It was formed in 1998 by merging the boroughs of City of Roche ...

estuary and the

Isle of Sheppey The Isle of Sheppey is an island off the northern coast of Kent, England, neighbouring the Thames Estuary, centred from central London. It has an area of . The island forms part of the districts of England, local government district of Borough ...

in company with

William Hogarth William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraving, engraver, pictorial social satire, satirist, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from Realism (visual arts), realistic p ...

and others. An account of their trip was written by Ebenezer Forrest and eventually published in 1782, with engravings taken from drawings by Hogarth and Scott. In the early 1740s, Scott began making sketches of London, especially of the new

Westminster Bridge Westminster Bridge is a road-and-foot-traffic bridge crossing over the River Thames in London, linking Westminster on the west side and Lambeth on the east side. The bridge is painted predominantly green, the same colour as the leather seats ...

, then under construction. When, following the arrival of

Canaletto Giovanni Antonio Canal (18 October 1697 – 19 April 1768), commonly known as Canaletto (), was an Italian painter from the Republic of Venice, considered an important member of the 18th-century Venetian school. Painter of cityscapes or ...

in London in 1746, paintings of views of the city became fashionable, he began working the sketches up into oil paintings. He painted at least eleven versions of a view of the

Old London Bridge The name "London Bridge" refers to several historic crossings that have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark in central London since Roman times. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box gir ...

, the earliest dating from 1747. Scott continued to paint copies of it after 1757, when the houses lining the bridge, shown in the painting, had been demolished. The London Bridge pictures were often painted as one of a pair, with an image of the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...

as a pendant.

Later life

Between 1761 and 1771, he exhibited three works at the Society of Artists, one at the Free Society of artists, and one, ''A View of the Tower of London'', at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

in 1771. He was one of the early draughtsmen in

watercolours Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting method"Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to the S ...

, and was called the father of English watercolour, but his chief works were in oil. Some of Scott's most celebrated paintings were his depictions of scenes during the

War of Jenkins' Ear The War of Jenkins' Ear was fought by Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and History of Spain (1700–1808), Spain between 1739 and 1748. The majority of the fighting took place in Viceroyalty of New Granada, New Granada and the Caribbean ...

. Scott earned a considerable reputation for his shore and river scenes, which were well-drawn and painted, and enlivened with figures.

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (; 24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English Whig politician, writer, historian and antiquarian. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twickenham, southwest London ...

, who had a large collection of his works, said that they "will charm in every age" and that "if he was second to Vandeveldt in sea pieces, he excelled him in variety." His views of

London Bridge The name "London Bridge" refers to several historic crossings that have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark in central London since Roman Britain, Roman times. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 197 ...

, the Custom-house Quay, and other pictures of the Thames earned him the name "the English Canaletto". Scott lived at number 2 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, overlooking the Piazza at Covent Garden, from 1747 to 1758."Henrietta Street and Maiden Lane Area: Henrietta Street"
''Survey of London: Volume 36'', 1970, pp. 230-239. Date accessed: 29 September 2014. He moved to

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

in 1758, and then to

Ludlow Ludlow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road (Great Britain), A49 road which bypasses the town. The town is near the conf ...

, where his daughter was living, before retiring to

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, where he died in Walcot Street, of

gout Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of pain in a red, tender, hot, and Joint effusion, swollen joint, caused by the deposition of needle-like crystals of uric acid known as monosodium urate crysta ...

, on 12 October 1772, leaving one daughter. His collection was sold by Langford in January 1773.

William Marlow William Marlow (1740 – 14 January 1813) was an English landscape and marine painter and etcher. Life Marlow was born in Southwark, London. He spent five years as a pupil of the marine painter Samuel Scott, and also studied at the St. Ma ...

(1740–1813) and the animal painter

Sawrey Gilpin Sawrey Gilpin (30 October 1733 – 8 March 1807) was an English animal painter, illustrator, and etcher who specialised in paintings of horses and dogs. He was made a Royal Academician. Life and work Gilpin was born in Carlisle, Cumbria ...

(1733–1807) were his pupils.

Gallery

File:Samuel scott view of the thames at wapping082809).jpg, ''The Thames at Wapping'' File:Samuel Scott - Shipping off Dover - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Shipping off Dover'', 1738 File:Samuel Scott - The Building of Westminster Bridge - Google Art Project.jpg, '' The Building of Westminster Bridge'', 1742 File:Wager's Action off Cartagena, 28 May 1708 RMG BHC0348.tiff, '' Wager's Action off Cartagena'', c.1747 File:Samuel Scott - Vice Admiral Sir George Anson's Victory off Cape Finisterre - Google Art Project.jpg, '' Lord Anson's Victory off Cape Finisterre'', 1749 File:Samuel Scott - Arches of Westminster Bridge - Google Art Project.jpg, '' An Arch of Westminster Bridge'', 1750 File:A Thames Wharf (painting).jpeg, '' A Thames Wharf'', 1757 File:Samuel Scott, Old London Bridge.jpg, ''

'', 1758 File:A View of Alexander Pope's Villa, Twickenham, on the Banks of the Thames by Samuel Scott, RA.jpg, ''A View of Alexander Pope's Villa'', 1759 File:Samuel Scott - The Thames at Twickenham - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Thames at Twickenham'', c.1760 File:French Firerafts Attacking the British Fleet off Quebec, 28 June 1759 RMG BHC0393.tiff, '' French Firerafts Attacking the British Fleet off Quebec'', 1767 File:Samuel Scott - The Thames and the Tower of London Supposedly on the King's Birthday - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Thames and the Tower of London'', 1771

References and sources

;References ;Sources *

External links

*
Action of Cartagena, 1708
(ArtCyclopedia)
Scott biography + paintings
(

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unit ...

, Greenwich, London)
Scott's paintings
(

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

, London)
A view of Covent garden Piazza
(Christie's)
The building of Westminster Bridge
(

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

, New York ) {{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Samuel 1702 births 1772 deaths 18th-century English male artists British marine artists English landscape painters English watercolourists Painters from London