Attrib. William Frederick Mitchell Indian Troopship HMS Euphrates

An original late 19th-century watercolour painting, Attrib. William Frederick Mitchell, Indian Troopship HMS Euphrates.

A fine ship portrait of Indian Troopship HMS Euphrates. HMS Euphrates was an iron-hulled troopship of the Euphrates class. She was designed for the transport of British troops to India, from Portsmouth to Bombay. She launched in 1866 and was sold for breaking in 1895.

William Frederick Mitchell (1845–1914) was a prolific marine artist, commissioned to paint many naval and merchant ships. He lived most of his life near Portsmouth and painted pictures of Royal Navy and merchant ships for their officers and owners. He also illustrated Brassey's Naval Annual. His preferred medium was watercolour and his ship portraits are distinctive for their precision.

Mitchell's works are numbered and run to more than 3,500. The present watercolour, although unsigned, is numbered 314[?]1 at the upper right corner, in a similar hand to other confirmed works by Mitchell.

Mitchell's autobiography claims Queen Victoria, Edward, Prince of Wales, the German Emperor, and the Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia to be among his patrons. Many of his works can be found in the collection of the National Maritime Museum Collection in Greenwich.

In watercolour with graphite, blue and white bodycolour, and scratching out.