How you can use this image
This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).
Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.
The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.
Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.
Notes
Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.
An English whaler is seen in the centre in stern and port-quarter view. To the left a similar ship lies at anchor in port-broadside view. In the left foreground is an ice floe with two polar bears facing towards the central whaler. Two small boats and a whaler are in the centre and right foregound. The boat to the right is alongside the whale and one man stands up holding a harpoon which he has speared into the side of the whale, which sends up water through its spout. Behind it in the distance is the tail of another whale with three small boats around it, and an ice floe beyond. Evidence of another whale can be seen in the foreground on the far left. The work evokes an awareness that this is a potentially dangerous and inhospitable world, reinforced through the portrayal of dark clouds above the main whaler.
Title
Greenland Fishery: English Whalers in the Ice
Date
c.1750
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
H 26 x W 43 cm
Accession number
BHC1035
Work type
Painting
National Maritime Museum
Romney Road, Greenwich, London, Greater London SE10 9NF England
-
Warships Becalmed Lotherton Hall, Leeds Museums and Galleries -
Sea Piece Glasgow Museums Resource Centre (GMRC) -
A Ship before a fresh Breeze and another to Leeward Ashmolean Museum, Oxford -
Shipping in a Breeze, with a Cutter close-hauled in the foreground Ashmolean Museum, Oxford -
English Ships under Sail in a Very Light Breeze Yale Center for British Art -
Shipping in a Rough Sea National Trust, Nostell Priory -
A Two-Decker on Fire at Night off a Fort Yale Center for British Art - 55 more