Thomas DUTTON

H.M.S Calcutta 84 Guns
In a gale on the 22nd April 1858, in the Gulf of Pechili, China.

19 x 15 inches

The clipper ship, Calcutta, was one of the many majestic ships of the Orient Line that sailed between England and the new colonies of Australia in the middle years of Queen Victoria’s reign. It is pictured here in choppy seas off the Chinese coast. Such journeys were often perilous but were vital in the transportation of migrants, mail and cargo between England and the Far East. Thomas Dutton was an eminent draughtsman and lithographer of ships, yachts and maritime subjects after both his own designs and those of his contemporaries. The lithographs were often produced using a tint stone and were offered for sale either with or without colour. Dutton’s accomplished renderings of yachts, steamships, clippers and naval engagements have come to epitomise the spirit of maritime excitement and adventure that dominated the Victorian age. This was a period when Britannia ruled the waves and British supremacy at sea was a cause for great pride. Dutton was widely acclaimed in his lifetime and held regular exhibitions of his work in London. He died in 1891 having lived through one of the most exciting and expansive periods of British colonial history. The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich owns an almost complete collection of his lithographs.