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Description: | R. Willoughby Pinx
This merchant captain, painted when he was eighty-two or eighty-three-years-old, is thought to be the owner of the ship in the background, since, for the purpose of the painting, his arms are on a plain blue ensign flying on the ship?s ensign staff. He is holding a rare quadrant designed by the insurance broker Caleb Smith who in 1734 designed an astroscope ?? for taking Altitudes at Sea without a Horizon ??, and who a few years later produced his ?New Sea Quadrant?. Smith?s instruments were made by the mathematical instrument maker Thomas Heath who was active from 1714?73. Caleb Smith?s quadrant was never very popular because it competed directly with John Hadley?s octant, invented at much the same time, and was inferior in performance.
The painting is signed in the lower left ?R Willoughby. Pinx? and inscribed ?Born in 1722/Portrait taken in 1805?. A portrait painter called Willoughby, however, does not appear to be recorded, but the artist may be Robert Willoughby (1768?1843), the marine painter.
caption: Portrait of a Merchant Navy Captain | Publisher: | "http://collections.rmg.co.uk/" | Rights holder: | "Royal Museums Greenwich" | Subjects: | paintings | Source: | Royal Museums Greenwich | Identifier: | http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections... | Go to resource |
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