Port le Mare

Date made: 1795

Description: Port Le Mare (Port St Mary). This is the earliest known view of Port St. Mary - almost unrecognisable without its piers, but even then an important station for the Manx herring fishery. The boats are of the smack rigged type. A limekiln, which stood at the base of the present Alfred Pier, is shown in operation.

This is one of a series of 18th century watercolour paintings depicting the Isle of Man executed by Britain's leading watercolour artist John 'Warwick' Smith. In the 1790s John ‘Warwick’ Smith was commissioned by the 4th Duke of Atholl, John Murray (1755-1830), then Governor-in-Chief of the Isle of Man, to complete a series of watercolour drawings of the Isle of Man. Twenty-six were completed in total, some of the earliest watercolour paintings depicting the Island. When the Duke died in 1830 the Atholls’ connection to the Isle of Man was severed, and the paintings were taken to Blair Castle, the ancestral home of the Atholl family. In the 1950s the entire set was rediscovered and purchased for the Manx Museum and returned to the Isle of Man.

Measurements: artwork: 30.5 x 43.5cm

Materials: watercolour on paper

Object name: Painting

Collection: Art Collection

ID number: 1954-7213

Subject tags : #Johnwarwicksmith

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