Bending a Top's'l

Oil on canvas, 12 1/2 x 15 5/8 inches, c. 1830, signed "Chambers- Whitby" on the back of the sinking ship. A dramatic scene of a shipwreck in the stormy seas. Chambers was a painter from Whitby, Yorkshire, who specialized in seascapes. He was the son of a fisherman, and as a young boy served as a cabin boy on a merchant ship. He later spent some time in London as a set painter for the Pavillion Theater. Chambers was best known for his paintings of ships and naval battles, many of which are in museums and galleries in Britain.