Birchall (William Minshall)
Searching for Submarines; The Convoy,
£450
, , 1918.
a pair of WW1 watercolours depicting the Royal Navy in the English Channel in 1918, by this master of the traditional English maritime style, William Minshall Birchall (1881-1941). Birchall was actually born in Cedar Falls, Iowa, in the United States, but emigrated to England as a young man, where he settled in the historic seaside town of Hastings, in East Sussex. At a time when England was still a great seafaring nation, this stretch of coast all around Kent to the Thames Estuary provided him with copious material for his paintings. Although he generally concentrated on older sailing ships, he could not help but be inspired by all the military naval activity during the Great War. “The Convoy” appears to show a mixture of battle ships and merchant vessels out at sea, with a large airship in the skies above. “Searching for Submarines”, shows two cruisers and two airships on defensive manoeuvres, and features the distinctive promontory of Beachy Head in the background, instantly recognisable to anyone familiar with this stretch of coast,.
190 by 355mm (7½ by 14 inches).
2 watercolours on thin artboard, both signed, inscribed, and dated, 1918, lower left, the latter heightened with touches of gum-arabic, both with a peripheral exposure line and a few faint spots,
| Dimensions | 190355714 cm |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 190 by 355mm (7½ by 14 inches). |
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