drawing
- Museum number
- 1882,1014.14
- Description
-
Chatham; view from a height over a dockyard with man-of-war being repaired at centre, a building with a clocktower at right and another building at r
Brush drawing in grey wash, with watercolour, over graphite
- Production date
- 1763-1789
- Dimensions
-
Height: 211 millimetres
-
Width: 454 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- Originally catalogued as a view at Deptford, the view was identified as Chatham by Celina Fox (11.xi.2002; see her book, The Arts of Industry in the Age of Enlightenment, 2009, p. 68 and n 81, p. 511 for this drawing and other work by Mitchell)
The following catalogue entry is from K Sloan, Noble Art, exhibition catalogue, BM 2000:
Thomas Mitchell combined service as shipwright to the Admiralty with his recreation of painting marine views in wash, watercolour and oils. He won a premium at the Society of Arts in 1766 in the category of 'Original Sea Pieces in Oils' of the artist's own composition, 4 1/2 X 3' or 5 1/2 X 3 1/2' in size. Dossie, who recorded the premiums in 1782 (vol. III, p. 434) described Mitchell as a 'ship painter, Chatham, Kent', but the Admiralty records that he was a Builder's Assistant at HM Dockyard, Chatham in 1771. He also worked at Deptford, and in 1774 conducted a supplement to the survey of the harbours, eventually becoming Assistant Surveyor of the Navy.
He exhibited large battle pieces at the Free Society of Artists and the Royal Academy from 1763-89 and the British Museum has a large collection of his drawings. A series in grey wash depict the main dockyards and harbours of southern England, especially around Plymouth, but his finished works rarely have colour or the spontaneity of the present view which retains the impression of having been sketched on the spot.
Literature: Robert Dossie, Memoirs of Agriculture and Other Oeconomical Arts, III, 1782
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
2000 May-Sep, BM P&D, 'A Noble Art', no.78
- Acquisition date
- 1882
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1882,1014.14