A Fog, with a View of Calshot Castle

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  • About the work
    Location
    Country: UK
    City: London
    Place: Cabinet Office, Admiralty House

    Serres probably painted this somewhat romantic sunset view of Port Mahon, capital of Minorca, in England in 1766 from sketches he made on a visit there, possibly when serving on a Spanish ship some years earlier.

  • About the artist
    Dominic Serres, marine painter and nephew of the Archbishop of Rheims, was born in Auch, Gascony. He studied at the English Benedictine school at Douai but is thought to have run away and served with the Spanish fleet, before being captured and sent to England as a prisoner of war in c.1750. After his release, he painted views of country houses. In the late 1750s he moved to London, where he was a pupil of marine painter Charles Brooking. He established a reputation for battle scenes during the Seven Years War and the War of American Independence. In 1768, he was one of the founder members of the Royal Academy and in 1780 he was made marine painter to George III. He became librarian of the Royal Academy in 1792, shortly before his death.
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  • Details
    Title
    A Fog, with a View of Calshot Castle
    Date
    1766
    Medium
    Oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    height: 63.00 cm, width: 101.50 cm
    Acquisition
    Purchased from Agnew's, March 1958
    Inscription
    br on driftwood: D. Serres 1766
    Provenance
    With Agnew’s Gallery, London; from whom purchased in March 1958
    GAC number
    4583