Moonlight Coastal Scene
James Wilson Carmichael (Newcastle upon Tyne 1800 - Scarborough 1868)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1840 (signed and dated)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
390 x 570 mm
Place of origin
Newcastle-upon Tyne
Order this imageCollection
Cragside, Northumberland
NT 1230416
Caption
John Wilson Carmichael was born in Newcastle and went to sea as a boy. He was apprenticed in the ship-building industry but later turned to painting and was influential in the promotion of art in Newcastle. In this dramatic scene, he depicts a ship being lured onto the rocks by a wrecker's bonfire. A group of wreckers sit in a rowing boat in the foreground, waiting for the ship to be dashed to pieces.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Moonlight Coastal Scene, by John Wilson Carmichael (Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1800 – Scarborough 1868), signed and dated, bottom left: J. W. Carmichael 1840 [no longer really legible]. A moonlit coastal scene with a sailing ship and rowing boats off the rocky coast. Carmichael was born in Newcastle and went to sea as a boy, before being apprenticed in the shipbuilding industry. After turning to painting, he played an active role in the promotion of art in Newcastle and moved to London in 1846. Here he has painted ships being lured onto a rocky coast by a wreckers’ bonfire.
Provenance
Armstrong collection; transferred by the Treasury to The National Trust in 1977 via the National Land Fund, aided by 3rd Baron Armstrong of Bamburgh and Cragside (1919 - 1987).
Credit line
Cragside, The Armstrong Collection (acquired through the National Land Fund and transferred to the National Trust in 1977)
Marks and inscriptions
Bottom left: J. W. Carmichael 1840
Makers and roles
James Wilson Carmichael (Newcastle upon Tyne 1800 - Scarborough 1868), artist