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Notes
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A sailor is shown returning home to his family standing outside a cottage. He is embracing his wife while a boy hugs his father's right arm. A smaller boy on the far left holds his stick and his father's right hand, and carries his bundle. On the right a young girl holds a small child in her arms. In the background the domesticity of the setting is implied by the jug resting on the window-sill of the cottage on the right. The theme of a war hero's return to home and hearth is emphasised by the sensibility and Englishness of the landscape setting. Thomas Stothard was an early Romantic artist. He was one of the most popular, prolific and successful artists of his time. He initially served a seven-year apprenticeship as a designer of silk fabrics and was also a prolific illustrator of many popular books such as 'Robinson Crusoe' and 'The Pilgrim's Progress'.
An engraving from this picture was one of a set of four similar upright-format prints after Stothard issued as a set on the same date (16 April 1798), the other three showing 'Sailors in a Fight', 'Sailors in a Storm' and 'Sailors in Port'. The print of this subject shows some firming up and could be from a more finished, less sketchy, version. None is known, however, and it is possible that the image only reached its final level of finish in the engraved form.
Title
A Sailor's Return in Peace
Date
c.1798
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
H 56.8 x W 43.7 cm
Accession number
BHC1125
Work type
Painting
National Maritime Museum
Romney Road, Greenwich, London, Greater London SE10 9NF England
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