Fine Art
-
Smoke on the Water
Forget the Marlboro Man and Joe Camel, these colorful 19th-century trading cards cast history’s most notorious sailors as ambassadors for the world’s worst habit.
-
Rockwell Kent’s White Whale
Readers might never have heard of “Moby-Dick” had it not been for American artist Rockwell Kent’s 1930 illustrated edition.
-
The Terrifying Story of “The Raft of the Medusa”
WARNING: This tale of a shipwrecked French frigate in 1816 might make you reconsider getting on a boat. But it did produce some great art. Continue at your own risk!
-
Vincent van Gogh from Sunflowers to Sailboats
During one of the most prolific and darkest periods of his life, Vincent van Gogh journeyed south to chase the light.
-
Excerpt: “The Captain of the ‘Pole-Star’”
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle brought modern detective fiction to the masses with his Sherlock Holmes series. But one of his first tales was a ghost story set in the Arctic.
-
Alfred Stieglitz and the Landing of the Boats
Alfred Stieglitz was one of the world’s most influential photographers. His dramatic images of 19th-century Dutch sailing vessels are a testament to his legacy.
-
Winslow Homer’s Maritime Masterpieces
One of America’s foremost landscape painters is best remembered for his nautical subjects.
-
“The Sailing Vessels” by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
This series of 16th-century nautical engravings captures European maritime power at the dawn of the Dutch Golden Age.
-
Seascapes of a Madman: The Nautical Art of Louis Michel Eilshemius
“All the supreme Genius Minds down through the ages find Domain in Eilshemius”
-
Artists of the HMS Beagle
These well-traveled painters and illustrators created a visual counterpart to Charles Darwin’s epic voyage of scientific discovery.