The “Jolie Brise” was built in 1913 in Le Havre, as a French Pilot boat. In 1925 it won the first Fastnet Race, and again in 1929 and 1930. In 1932 her Skipper won thr Blue Water Medal for a daring rescue of the crew of the “Adriana” which caught fire during the Bermuda Race. The “Jolie Brise” was winner of the Tall Ships Race in 1980, 1986 and 2000.

The first British ocean race was inaugurated in 1925 and was called the Fastnet Race because the course ran from the Isle of Wight, down the Channel and across part of the Atlantic to the lighthouse on the Fastnet Rock, off the southwestern Irish coast, before returning to Plymouth. The race, which has been called the Grand National of ocean racing, was started by a group of hardy sailors in 1925.

Only seven yachts started the 605 mile course on August 15th, which was won by the “Jolie Brise”, in a time of 6 days, 2 hours and 45 minutes, having ghosted through calms and fog. Not so lucky were the trailing boats, which got caught in a gale neat the end of the race. All eventually made it to safety, but their rough treatment was a forestate of th perils that the Fastnet race would offer future contestants.

The painting shows the “Jolie Brise” rounding the Fastnet Rock at 7.50 p.m. on AUgust 19th, 1925, leading “Gull” by 40 minutes, and “Fulmar” by 1 hour 25 minutes. Ass she rounded, the lighthouse keeper informed them of their leading position by semaphore.

“The dramatic image of the Jolie Brise rounding the Fastnet Light had been on my mind for some time, but it was the events of the year 2000 that spurred me into committing it to canvas. Whilst doing the research for the painting I had the opportunity to go on board and get the feel of this historic ocean thoroughbred and I hope that I have managed to reflect the spirit that I felt in her.”

We have this great limited edition print of 850 signed by Rodney Charman available now from our webshop. Other prints from Rodney are also available.

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At noon on Wednesday, 10th April 1912, the White Star liner R.M.S. Titanic cast her lines from the White Star Dock and began what was to become the most famous maiden voyage in history.

With Captain Edward J. Smith on the bridge and towed by the tug ‘Neptune’, assisted by tugs ‘Hercules’, ‘Albert Edward’, ‘Hector’, ‘Ajax’ and ‘Vulcan’, the huge liner was manoeuvred into the River Test.

Rodney Charman has lived all his life near Southampton and has vivid memories of seeing the great liners ‘Queen Mary’, ‘Queen Elizabeth’ and ‘Mauretania’ from the trains that passed very close to the dry docks there. He also remembers “going on a passenger ferry to view the ‘SS United States’ as she arrived on her maiden voyage. I toured the ‘Queen Mary’ when she was at the Ocean Dock, as the White Star Dock was renamed, and have made a few voyages from Southampton Docks”.

Rodney’s painting shows the ‘Titanic’ as she is edged away from the dockside, the ‘Neptune’ towing and tugs ‘Albert Edward’, ‘Hercules’ and ‘Vulcan’ at her bow. On the left of the painting are the White Star liner ‘Majestic’, and the American Line steamers ‘Philadelphia’ and ‘St. Louis’, each in its day the greatest liner in the world, now dwarfed by the enormous ‘Titanic’. The three liners had had their voyages cancelled due to a coal strike, and their coal and many of their crew were transferred to the ‘Titanic’. In the background can be seen the Southwestern Hotel where many of the passengers stayed on the eve of the voyage.

This limited edition print of 850 is available in our webshop where you can also find more artworks from Rodney Charman.

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The artist William Lionel Wyllie RA was a dominant talent in British maritime art from the end of the 19th century until well into the 20th. His works are on display not only in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard at the Royal Naval Museum and here at Artists Harbour Gallery, but also at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, Tate Britain as well as other collections.

Wyllie was born in London in 1851 and became famous and successful through painting maritime scenes in both oil and watercolour, many of which he published as editions of etchings. Wyllie himself created the etchings from his own pictures.
His name spread, along with that of Charles Dixon, when he worked as an illustrator in the late Victorian era for the popular illustrated tabloids, The Graphic and the Illustrated London News.

A notable Wyllie artwork is a picture (”Come to Southsea and Board the Old Ship”) showing public access to Britain’s iconic 18th-century warship, HMS Victory, on which Admiral Lord Nelson died while leading the great 1805 defeat at Trafalgar of Napoleon’s ambitions to invade Britain. This picture is also for sale here.

Wyllie was a prime mover in the public campaign to get HMS Victory moved from lying idly out in the waters of Portsmouth Harbour on the English south coast to her current position in dry dock as a visitor attraction at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, just a few yards from where current RN aircraft carriers and other warships come and go. She is now one of Britain’s favourite tourist attractions and is only a few yards from the remains of Tudor Warship Mary Rose. HMS Victory remains a serving warship in the Royal Navy and is the flagship of Britain’s Second Sea Lord.

Despite his failing eyesight and old age, near the end of his life Wyllie pushed himself to the limit physically and mentally to create the massive, 42ft.-wide semi-circular Panorama of the Battle of Trafalgar which can still be seen today in the Royal Naval Museum.

Artists Harbour sells original Wyllie etchings, modern reproduction prints of a number of Wyllie’s etchings and watercolours, greetings cards reproducing some of Wyllie’s works and DVDs about Wyllie. Go to Wyllie’s page on our webshop to see all the artworks we have in stock.

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This picture from a lithograph by A. Pernet is a detailed panorama of activity on Southsea seafront in 1865.

Apart from the paddle steamers taking tourists on pleasure trips, the army offficers riding on the common and the bathing machines protecting the modesty of those taking the waters, the scene is almost unchanged from what one sees today. The major exception would be that the pier on the left with its paddle steamer is today the landing place for hovercraft to the Isle of Wight.

This large print (1000 x 490 mm) is now available for £30 on our webshop.

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8 new prints from local artist Peter Richardson are now available to buy from our webshop for £79.99. These new pictures include local views of Portsmouth Harbour with Ark Royal, Southsea Parade Pier, Southsea Marina at Low Tide or the well known Still and West pub in Old Portsmouth.

Peter has family ties in Southsea, so local subjects often appear in his work. He was born in India and brought up in the Channel Islands but ended up at Croydon School of Art before a career in advertising, publicity and marketing. He started work in industry but switched to the movie business with the Rank Organisation until retiring at 55. And all that time he spent many of his leisure hours painting, “with a bit of exhibiting and selling”.

He and his wife ran a picture framing and art gallery business in North Hampshire for 20 years but since 1998 he has been a full time artist, concentrating on landscapes and portraiture in all media, apart from considerable ongoing picture restoration work for the Army.

Peter has exhibited widely in the Home Counties and in The Mall Galleries, London. “I try to give an impression of what something looks like, but not delineate it. I use Edward Seago as a model for a lot of what I do,” he said.

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