Joseph Marshall (painter) facts for kids

The cutter Alert (1753), bow view, painted 1755

Joseph Marshall was a British artist who lived in the 1700s. He was famous for painting detailed pictures of ships. His most well-known works were a series of paintings he created for George III of Great Britain, who was the King of England at the time.

Painting Ships for the King

Joseph Marshall was active as a painter from 1755 to 1779. He became very good at painting ships. In 1773, King George III asked him to create a special collection of paintings. These pictures were meant to show different kinds of ships in the Royal Navy.

Marshall did not paint from actual ship models. Instead, he used the original plans of the ships. This helped him make very accurate pictures. He painted both the front (bow) and back (stern) views of ten different ships. These paintings showed every type of ship the Royal Navy had back then.

The ten ships he painted for the King included:

• HMS Ambuscade
• Portland
• Sphinx
• Kingfisher
• Barfleur
• Royal George
• Enterprise
• Experiment
• Royal Oak
• Intrepid

He finished these paintings in 1779. Before this big project, Marshall had also painted two similar pictures of Alert in 1755.

Where to See His Art

Many of Joseph Marshall's paintings are now in museums for everyone to see. Twenty of the paintings he made for King George III were given to the Science Museum, London by Queen Victoria. Two other paintings, showing the stern (back) views of HMS Enterprise and HMS Royal George, are now at the National Maritime Museum.

The two earlier paintings of HMS Alert were given separately to the Science Museum in 1904.

Images for kids

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  HMS Experiment (1774) 4th rate 50 guns, stern view painted in 1775

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  Plan showing Experiment's body with quarter gallery decoration and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth proposed and approved in 1774, a 50-gun Fourth Rate, two-decker. The plan includes a table of the mast and yard dimensions.

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  Another version of the body plan, showing her sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for build at Deptford by Messrs Adams & Barnard

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  HMS Experiment, bow view painted in 1775