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English Georgian Thomas Luny Original Oil "Retrieving the Grog before the Storm"
About the Item
English original oil painting on canvas "Retrieving the Grog Before the Storm"; signed lower left: Thomas LUNY; and indistinctly dated--only a "2" is discernable. This dramatic painting depicts ships outward bound while smugglers in the foreground heave their small boat to shore while others roll a barrel of grog to safety. The sea is building while the white cliffs and stone fortress at the entrance to a harbor stand firm against the impending storm. This is quintessential Luny, displaying his deft handling of the ocean and the exposition of coastal life in the early 19th century. We have had this painting cleaned, rebacked and restored by Northeast Painting Conservation, York, Maine.
Thomas Luny (1759-1837), was born in Cornwall but moved to London at an early age and was raised there by his parents, Thomas and Elizabeth. Thomas' father is thought to have been employed in some activity at the London Docks and from thence the younger Thomas was exposed to the maritime world from an early age. He is thought to have been apprenticed to the London artist Francis Holman (d. 1790) from the early 1770's. His early paintings were mainly of ships afloat, merchant ships, cutters and yachts. By the early 1780's Luny appears to have left Holman's studio. Many have speculated that he enlisted in the Royal Navy, but more recent information has found that he was never in the Navy, never received payments from the government, except for payments from his investments in English long term government annuities. However, it is quite probable that he was invited to sail on various ships to sketch and record incidents of a voyage. He painted many battle scenes and harrowing scenes of ships in storms which indicate that he had personal experience with life aboard ship in all sorts of weather. From about 1807 he moved to his primary residence in Teignmouth, a small but prosperous port on the South Devon coast. From there he painted coastal scenes and took on commissions. By this point in his life he was a well known marine painter and he no longer had to be in London to receive commissions.
Luny was a prolific artist, in spite of misshapen hands from birth and rheumatoid arthritis which eventually became totally debilitating by the early 1830's. He exhibited at the Royal Academy every year from 1780 to 1793 and then periodically after that. His works are held in collections and museums on both sides of the Atlantic including the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts, and the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, among many others. Reference: Thomas Luny (1759-1837) published by the Royal Albert Memorial Museum for a Thomas Luny exhibition from 22 July to 25 September 1982.
- Creator:Thomas Luny (Artist)
- Dimensions:Height: 27.75 in (70.49 cm)Width: 37.75 in (95.89 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
- Style:Georgian (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1820
- Condition:Repaired: This painting was rebacked, cleaned and restored by Northeast Painting Conservation, York, Maine. Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Wells, ME
- Reference Number:
Thomas Luny
Thomas Luny was the son of Thomas Luny and his wife Elizabeth Wallace. He was probably born in Cornwall and was baptized at St Ewe near Mevagissey on 20th May 1759. His mother had a son from a previous marriage, Captain James Wallace (1754-1832), who served with Nelson at Copenhagen in 1801. By 1773 Luny was apprenticed to the marine painter Francis Holman (1729-1784), giving Holman’s address at Johnson Street, St George’s when he sent his first exhibit to the Society of Artists in 1777. In 1781/82 he moved to Ratcliffe Highway, Stepney. Luny exhibited at the Society of Artists again in 1778, at the Free Society in 1783, and sent pictures to the Royal Academy from 1780 to 1793. He painted London views, portraits of East Indiamen, and battle scenes. Luny exhibited no works between 1793 and 1802 and it was once thought that he served as a purser in the Royal Navy; this has now been discounted. His painting subjects suggest that he traveled, but there is no direct evidence for this except a visit to Paris in 1777. In 1791 he bought a property at 16 Mark Lane, between Leadenhall Street and the Thames, and by 1795 he was earning enough to invest regularly in government stocks. In mid-1807 he moved (probably for reasons of health) to Teignmouth, a fashionable watering-place on the Devon coast popular with retired naval officers. A number of them became friends and patrons, notably Captain George Tobin, an amateur artist. In 1808-9 he built a handsome house on the harbor front in Teign Street, later called Luny House. Luny was a prolific producer of Devon coastal views, shipping scenes, and naval events, despite suffering so severely from arthritis that he had to paint with the brush strapped to his wrist. He sent a Battle of the Nile to the Royal Academy in 1802 and three paintings in 1837, the year that there was an exhibition of 130 of his paintings in Old Bond Street. Luny died at Teignmouth on 30th September 1837. The work of Thomas Luny is represented in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich; the Bristol City Art Gallery; Exeter Art Gallery; Swansea Museum; the Peabody Museum of Salem, Massachusetts and the Library of New South Wales, Sydney.
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