Samuel Walters
Epithet: Artist (1811-1882)
Record type: Biographies
Biography: Samuel Walters was a leading British marine artist, known for his paintings of naval battles during the nineteenth century. He studied at the Liverpool School of Marine Art and specialised in ship portraiture - and is generally considered one of the most enduring figures of the Liverpool School of Marine Art. Walters enjoyed the patronage of King William IV.
Walters’ father, Miles, was a tradesman and also a marine artist. The family lived near the docks, and Walters served as an apprentice in his father’s gilding and framing business. Father and son left London for Liverpool in 1826, spending over a year in the city of Bristol on the way. In 1827, the two men collaborated on their first marine painting, which became one of approximately forty paintings they produced together over the next six years.
Shortly after arriving in Liverpool, Walters enrolled at the Liverpool Mechanics’ School of Arts, and, in November 1831, he joined the Royal Institution, containing the Liverpool Academy Schools. In 1830, Walters exhibited his painting, ‘Dutch Boats in a Fresh Breeze’ at the Liverpool Academy of Arts - becoming the first of ninety-nine paintings he exhibited at the Academy over the pursuing thirty-five years - and in 1937, the artist became an Associate of the Academy. The artist's popularity was so great that he began producing engravings of his original paintings in order to keep up with the demand for his work.
However, in 1845, Walters suddenly resigned from the Academy and returned to London. It is thought that this was due to the passing of William John Huggins - a marine painter to William IV - whom Walters hoped to take the place of. The artist's stay in London was short-lived, and by 1847, Walters had returned to Liverpool where his popularity remained just as high as it had been before the painter had left. The legacy and influence of Walters was considerable, and the artist inspired other important Liverpool marine artists, including Duncan McFarlane, Francis Hustwick, William G. Yorke and his son, William H. Yorke.
Walters' base in Liverpool allowed him to produce several paintings depicting Manx ships, including ‘The ‘Ben my Chree’’, ‘The Manx Fairy’, ‘Mona’s Isle’ and ‘Tynwald I’, held by Manx National Heritage. In 1856, Manx newspapers, such as The Manx Sun, stated that ‘A Splendid View of the Town and Bay of Douglas’, painted by Walters under the patronage of the Directors of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company (whose fleet of clipper steamers were featured in the painting) would be printed by ‘Messrs. Day and Haghe, Lithographers to the Queen’ (the Queen being another Manx paper) and ‘extensively’ circulated, to ‘greatly benefit the interests of the Isle of Man’.
Further examples of the artist's work can be seen in most major marine museums throughout the world.
Occupation / profession: Artist
Gender: Male
Date of birth: 1811
Date of death: 1882