~ Late Victorian Watercolour Of HMS Barracouta By George ~
A very fine and technically detailed watercolour of HMS Barracouta at dusk, with Portsmouth Harbour in the background - the Square Tower & Hot Walls are to the right. It is painted in a similar style to Fred Mitchell's work.
It is titled , signed and dated 1887 to the lower left.
It is single mounted in a modern frame and a panel in the mount gives the ships title and a date range of 1893 to 1897, I presume that this refers to a crew members years of service and the piece was personally commissioned by them.
~ George Gray ~
Little is known about this British artist other than he was active from 1880 to 1910.
~ HMS Barracouta ~
HMS Barracouta was a third class torpedo cruise, she was the sixth ship to carry this name and was from a class of four.
She was built at Sheerness Dockyard, laid down in 1888, launched on the 16th of May 1889, and completed in 1890.
On completion she served at Sheerness 1890-93, then out to the South East Coast of America. 1893-96. Then back to Sheerness 1897, on to the Cape Station 1897-1903 where she won the Battle Honour 'South Africa 1900-01'.
She returned to the UK for duty at Chatham and Sheerness 1904-05, and sold that year.
~ Dimensions ~
The frame is 20.5 inches (50.5cm) wide by 17 inches (43cm) tall.
The watercolour is 12.5 inches (32cm) wide by 9 inches (23cm) tall.
It weighs 1.75 Kg.
~ Condition ~
The watercolour has small spots of foxing but these do not detract from the picture at a normal viewing distance. The colours remain very strong. It is not oxidized.
The frame is in good order.
