Nicholas Matthew Condy The Harriet at Cherbourg

An original early 19th-century watercolour painting, Nicholas Matthew Condy, The Harriet at Cherbourg.

This handsome marine painting, in ink and wash, heightened with white, is a fine example by esteemed maritime painter Nicholas Matthew Condy (1818–1851) and an interesting subject in the history of competitive yachting.

The view shows the yacht 'Harriet' at the French port of Cherbourg. Harriet, a 95-ton cutter, was created in the 1820s as a special racing yacht for the Anglo-Irish landowner and politician George Hamilton Chichester, 3rd Marquess of Donegall—styled as Lord Belfast between 1799 and 1844. (Harriet, incidentally, was the name of Lord Belfast's wife, whom he married in 1822).

Lord Belfast raced Harriet in the first regatta at Cowes in 1826 and went on to have such success with her that he announced that, having done all he could with fore-and-aft rig, he would in the 1830s turn his attention to square rig, with the intention of helping to improve the sailing qualities of the ships of the Royal Navy.

Nicholas Matthew Condy (1818–1851) was the younger son of landscape artist Nicholas Condy (1793–1857), with whom he is sometimes confused. He was born in Dover but by 1824 the family was living in Plymouth and Nicholas attended Mount Radford School in Exeter. He later studied under Reverend C. Thomas of Lew Trenchard, and his work attracted the early admiration of the Earl of Egremont, J.M.W. Turner’s patron.

Condy used his maritime knowledge acquired in his hometown to paint accurate ship portraits and become a successful marine artist. Three of his sea-pieces were exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1842 to 1845. His early promise was cut short however, by his sudden death in 1851 aged just thirty-two.

Works by Nicholas Matthew Condy are held in the collections of the National Maritime Museum, Royal Albert Memorial Museum, National Trust, Government Art Collection, Plymouth Art Gallery and Britannia Royal Naval College.

Presented in a later gilt frame with decorative wash line mount.

Image size: 14.7 x 22.6cm. Frame size: 36.8 x 44cm.

Provenance: Bought by Derek Williams-Freeman in London from Guy Beddington, 1986. Exhibited Walker Galleries, 118 New Bond Street, London, 1932, No.48.