Thomas Sewell Robins ( Devonport 8 May 1810 – 9 August 1880) was a British painter of maritime subjects.

Early life

Born on 8 May 1810 in

Devonport, Devon Devonport ( ), formerly named Plymouth Dock or just Dock, is a district of Plymouth in the English county of Devon, although it was, at one time, the more important settlement. It became a county borough in 1889. Devonport was originally one o ...

, Robins was admitted into the Royal Academy Schools on 22 April 1829 under the sponsorship of fellow Devonian

James Northcote James Northcote (22 October 1746 – 13 July 1831) was a British Painting, painter. He became a member of the Royal Academy in 1787, and a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Royal Institute of the Netherlands in 1809 ...

, a former pupil of Sir

Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter who specialised in portraits. The art critic John Russell (art critic), John Russell called him one of the major European painters of the 18th century, while Lucy P ...

. His professor of painting was

Thomas Phillips Thomas Phillips (18 October 1770 – 20 April 1845) was a leading English portrait and subject painter. He painted many of the notable men of the day including scientists, artists, writers, poets and explorers. Life and work Phillips was bor ...

and his lecturer in perspective was

J. M. W. Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbu ...

. He was an early member of the New Watercolour Society and the Institute of Painters in Watercolours.

Career

Robins travelled extensively on the Continent, visiting France in 1842, Holland and Italy in 1845, the Mediterranean c. 1850, Holland and the Rhine in 1857, France in 1858, and Antwerp in 1859. A prolific painter, he exhibited 7 works at the RA; 39 at the British Institute; 21 at the Suffolk Street Galleries and 317 works at the New Watercolour Society.

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 ...

1971 ''Two Victorian Marine Painters'' - Exhibition catalogue. Failing health forced him to reduce his commitments in 1865–66. He died in 1880, leaving his wife, Elizabeth and daughter, Delia. Robins specialized in coastal marine subjects, working primarily in watercolours and on occasion in oils. He did some paintings, particularly some large scale yachting scenes in the

Solent The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and mainland Great Britain; the major historic ports of Southampton and Portsmouth lie inland of its shores. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit whi ...

some of which were engraved by Dolby, Harris and others. His work is in the collections of the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

, the City of Portsmouth Museum,

Cartwright Hall Cartwright Hall is the civic art gallery in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, situated about a mile from the city centre in the Manningham district. It was built on the former site of Manningham Hall using a gift of £40,000 donated by Samue ...

(

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

), Howarth Museum and Gallery (

Accrington Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, east of Preston, north of Manchester and is situated on the culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to ...

), Newport Art Gallery, the

Williamson Art Gallery and Museum The Williamson Art Gallery and Museum is an art gallery and museum situated in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England and houses Wirral's art collection. History The art gallery and museum opened on 1 December 1928, the single-storey building is Neo- ...

(

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

), the

Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...

, and the

Muscarelle Museum of Art The Muscarelle Museum of Art is a university museum affiliated with the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. While the Museum only dates to 1983, the university art collection has been in existence since its first gift – a p ...

. One oil painting of his in the

dates from 1853 and is of HMS ''Assistance'' trapped in the

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

ice. A more typical watercolour by Robins is "Bringing in the Nets" initialled TSR and dated 1861. He produced many similar works of varying quality. He seldom added titles except for brief phrases about location e.g. "Off Sheerness"; the titles are mostly assigned by the auction houses. During his travels, Robins also made some pencil drawings and watercolour sketches of people in local dress. The chalk drawing above right is of a girl with wool gatherings; it is not dated.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robins, Thomas Sewell 1810 births 1880 deaths 19th-century English painters English male painters Artists from Devonport, Plymouth 19th-century English male artists