Description
Signed and dated 1885, oil on canvas
Dimensions
46cm x 69cm (18in x 27in)
Footnote
Provenance: Royal Northern and Clyde Yacht Club.
Exhibited Imperial Institute Yachting and Fisheries Exhibition, 1897
Exhibited: The scene depicts the start of the International Ocean Race to Gibraltar in October 1880.
Note: Gertrude was an 80 ton yawl owned by Lt William Henn RN of Anne's Lodge, Ascog, Bute. He is better known for his unsuccessful challenge for the America's Cup in 1886 with his later yacht, Galatea.
The Royal Northern and Clyde Yacht Club, created by the merger of two clubs, the Northern and the Clyde Model Yacht, traces its roots back to 1824.
The royal charter granted in 1830 to the Northern is believed to have been the first received by any British yacht club, with the Clyde Model Yacht Club, inaugurated in 1856, receiving its own royal charter in 1863.
In 1886 the Royal Northern's yacht Galatea competed in the Americas Cup and the following year the vessel Thistle, from the Royal Clyde, did the same.
The transatlantic record was set in 1905 by Atlantic, skippered by the renowned yachtsman Charlie Barr and this remained unbeaten for almost a hundred years.
The Royal Northern was originally based in Rothesay, before moving to the current clubhouse in Rhu in 1937. The Royal Clyde moved from its own premises at Hunters Quay in the 1950s and was also based at Rhu when the two clubs merged in 1978 to form the Royal Northern & Clyde Yacht Club.
The Club has always maintained a strong tradition of fierce competition and success in yacht racing. When the first London Olympics were held in 1908 the yachting medal was won by the yacht Hera of The Royal Caledonian.
The Club has always been renowned for the quality of the art on its clubhouse walls.
Richard Brydges Beechey was one of 18 children of the painter Sir William Beechey and the miniaturist Lady Beechey, and part of a celebrated dynasty of artists. Joining the Royal Navy at the age of 14, he was promoted lieutenant in 1828 and served in the Pacific, the Mediterranean and Ireland. Beechey was invalided out of front line service with the Navy in 1830 but was promoted commander in 1846 and captain in 1851, becoming a Vice-Admiral in 1879.
Beechey exhibited a painting at the Royal Academy in 1832 when only 24 and subsequently showed another 18 works there up until 1877. He also showed thirteen works at the British Institution from 1833 to 1859, and seven at the Society of British Artists in 1834 and 1835. While on an expedition surveying the Shannon in 1849 he began to explore his potential as a watercolour artist, and from that time onwards sent works to the Royal Hibernian Academy. He was made an honorary member of the RHA in 1868.
Like many of his contemporaries Beechey liked to specialize in ships wrestling with stormy seas. None of his sketchbooks have been found but it seems likely that he would have made studies of the landscape during his travels and preparatory drawings for his seascapes.
From 1864, having married an Irish girl, Beechey lived in Dublin, moving in 1877 to Plymouth. He died in Southsea in 1895.