Attributed to Charles Brooking (British, 1723-1759), A Flags...

Estimate

£5,000 - £7,000

Attributed to Charles Brooking (British, 1723-1759), A Flagship wearing a flag of the Vice Admiral of the Red, before the windOil on canvas, 70cm x 125cm* This painting was originally one of a pair, owned by the financier Harold Fortington, who leased the island of Jethou between 1934 and 1949, taking over the lease from the author Sir Compton MacKenzie. It is believed that some of the contents were acquired with the property. The house on Jethou was commandeered by the German occupying forces during the Second World War and used as an officer's club, until fuel shortages made this impractical, at which time some of the contents were moved to Guernsey. The pair to this picture, subject unknown, is believed to have been seized by the German occupiers during this period. After liberation, some of these contents were moved back to the island by the Fortington's daughter, the late Mrs Nadia Moulton-Barrett.Born in Deptford in 1723, Brooking remains one of the finest marine painters of the eighteenth century. He is thought to have been largely self taught, and was the son of a Charles Brooking who was a painter and decorator at Greenwich Hospital between 1729 and 1736. Brooking's style was strongly influenced by Dutch marine painting of the seventeenth century, in particular the Van de Veldes and de Vlieger. Brooking did not achieve significant financial success until the final decade of his life. By this stage he had developed a mature style, and in 1754 he acquired Taylor White as his patron, Treasurer of the Foundling Hospital, who commissioned him to paint his largest canvas 'Flagship before the wind under easy sail'.This subject derives from that celebrated masterpiece, which remains in the hospital collection in a frame designed by William Hogarth. The commission and execution of the enormous canvas, which was, incredibly, painted in just 18 days, earned Brooking the governorship of the Hospital.Although the subject was never engraved, other copies do exist and are detailed in David Joel's monograph of Charles Brooking and the 18th Century British Marine Painters (Woodbridge, 2000). However, no other recorded version is as large as this example, with some as small as 24 x 37cm.