Explore: John Cantiloe Joy

(1806 - 1859)

John Cantiloe Joy was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk; the son of a guard on a mail coach. He and elder brother William were together known as the ‘brothers Joy’. They attended Mr Wright's Southtown Academy, Great Yarmouth, and practised marine views from a room of the Royal Hospital there. The brothers produced individual works and also collaborated on compositions. In about 1830 they moved to London under the patronage of the Earl of Abergavenny. Here, they established their reputations and received commissions from significant naval patrons. William exhibited at the Royal Academy and British Institution, while both brothers showed work at the Suffolk Street Gallery. The final years of their careers were spent in Chichester, Sussex.