Ramsgate

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

Little is known of the early life of William John Huggins. By 1812 he was a steward to Captain Thomas Buchanan of the East India Company. He was probably first taught by ship decorator and art teacher Thomas Duncan. Huggins settled in Leadenhall Street, London, close to East India House, the headquarters of the Company, and specialised in shipping and naval subjects. He produced numerous ship portraits for captains and owners of vessels used by the East India Company, collaborating with Edward Duncan, Thomas’s son, on paintings including ‘East Indiamen in the China Seas’ (c.1820-30; National Maritime Museum, Greenwich). The two artists also worked together on some 150 prints. In 1830 Huggins’s was appointed Marine Painter to William IV.
Thomas Sutherland was a prominent aquatint engraver who specialised in sporting, coaching, naval and military subjects, as well as topographical views. His engravings were generally made after the designs of contemporary artists. His best known works are some of the 105 illustrations to Rudolf Ackermann’s ‘The Microcosm of London’ (completed in three volumes in 1810). Sutherland also produced a series of prints based on the Peninsular Battles of 1808 to 1814. He lived and worked in London.

Places

England, Ramsgate, Kent, English Channel, North Sea

Subjects

rowing boat, topography, seascape/coastal scene, townscape/cityscape, seagull, sea, harbour, lighthouse, tower, paddle steamer, sailboat, oar

Materials & Techniques

aquatint, colour aquatint

Artist

William John Huggins (1781 - 1845)
Thomas Sutherland (1785 - 1838)

Title

Ramsgate

Edition

proof

Date

published 1 January 1825

Medium

Colour aquatint

Acquisition

Purchased from Frank T Sabin, December 1958

GAC number

4788