George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson, Irish 1806-1884- A... Lot 169

George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson, Irish 1806-1884- A warship off Queenstown, by repute the HMS Conqueror; oil on canvas, signed and dated 'Geo M W Atkinson 1854' (lower left), 69 x 102 cm. Provenance: Private Collection, UK. Note: Atkinson worked as a ship's carpenter before becoming Government Surveyor of Shipping and Emigrants at Cobh, which was known as Queenstown until 1920, on the south coast of County Cork, Ireland, a principal point of departure for ships headed to the Americas. The detailed depiction of the vessel in the present work demonstrates Atkinson's intimate understanding of ships and their construction. The artist revisited the subject of Queenstown several times throughout his career, and the same view is featured in a painting in the collection of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich [BHC0703].