View of Castle Cornet, Guernsey, Channel Islands, with Shipping

View of Castle Cornet, Guernsey, Channel Islands, with Shipping

ca. 1800
John Thomas Serres
Watercolor, pen and black ink, and graphite on moderately thick, slightly textured, beige wove paper
9 3/8 x 26 1/4 inches (23.8 x 66.7 cm)

This watercolor sits securely in the intersection of naval draftsmanship and the genre of marine painting. John Thomas Serres, the son of Dominic Serres, a founding member of the Royal Academy, both marine painters, may have produced studies for this work when he set out in 1799 to draw topographical profiles of the coasts of France and England under commission from the Admiralty. The ship in which he made the cruise, the Clyde, is shown to the left, along with other vessels of the squadron.

B1975.3.194
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection