Looking for three people/one boat paintings

July 5, 2009 5:23 PM

Help me find three men (or women, or whatever) in a boat, please.

I'm looking for images of paintings done around the time of the Napoleonic wars (give or take). But I'm looking for a specific subject: a boat with three people in it. The people can be any age/gender/color; they can be doing anything or nothing at all. The boat can be in any body of water, any situation.

I'd like to narrow it down to paintings that would appeal to people who're fans of the Aubrey–Maturin series, but I don't know much about that period, so finding something this specific is not easy. I'm guessing that there are quite a few people here who know a lot more about naval art than I do, and who will have favorites they can mention.

The higher-resolution the better but I'm glad to see any examples at all. Thanks much!

posted by TochterAusElysium to media & arts (15 comments total)

You possibly want paintings actually painted around then, not merely depicting those times?, so these may not fit 1, 2
posted by Rumple at 5:54 PM on July 5

How about this Aiden Lassell Ripley painting?
posted by timeo danaos at 6:24 PM on July 5

Thanks, Rumple; I'd prefer that they do look like they were painted then, but those are both useful. Timeo, that's exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for! Are there more where that came from?
posted by TochterAusElysium at 6:52 PM on July 5

That's one of a series of paintings he did on the life of Paul Revere. I've only seen a couple of the others, but they were both set on land, I'm afraid.
posted by timeo danaos at 7:14 PM on July 5

Thank you, timeo! And if anyone else knows of anything like that, even with more or fewer people in the boat, I can use that too...thanks! Sorry to ask such an odd question...!
posted by TochterAusElysium at 7:37 PM on July 5

Ok, so these are all a good thirty years too late, but they do have three men or women or whatever on them:

A painting by Tissot

One by La Pira, exact date unknown, but I was able to figure out that this guy painted in roughly the same time as these other two (a few decades into the 19th century)

Do cats count as people?

I love these bizarrely specific questions, even though I think my patience was defeated here.

Any chance you might let us in on what you want these for?
posted by ErWenn at 7:45 PM on July 5

This is like a treasure hunt! Sticking to the "three people", I found this and this one is too old, but fun.

Try this site/these searches: boats; ships and then browse, maybe

pro-tip for AskMe -- lots of people won't read your question once they see it is marked with a best answer check; you could temporarily un-do that if you wanted more eyeballs on your problem
posted by Rumple at 7:50 PM on July 5

Oh, and one more, also too recent but a little different, something like ErWenn's Tissot link.
posted by Rumple at 7:52 PM on July 5

Wrong time period, but I've always loved this painting: Jacopo Bassano, The Miraculous Draught of Fishes.
posted by belau at 7:57 PM on July 5

I'm not sure if this would be of any use to you, but it's certainly Napoleonic.
posted by timeo danaos at 8:10 PM on July 5

Nelson boarding a captured (American) ship --- right period, too many people..... (link)

Nelson wounded at Tenerife

Nelson in conflict with a Spanish launch

Bligh put into the ship's boat from the Bounty

Ship of Fools

There are three in this boat.

Delacroix Dante scene

You could also browse this site and then use tineye.com to find higher res pics (these are mainly CGI I believe)
posted by Rumple at 9:06 PM on July 5

Something a bit different, but all in threes:
Three girls fishing: The Boat at Giverny, Monet, late 1800s.
Three Boys in a Dory and Breezing Up, Winslow Homer, early 1900s.
A Boatman Carries Two Ladies to an Island, Kuniyoshi, mid-1800s.
Boating Accident on the Thames, Robert Cruikshank, early-mid 1800s.
Line Fishing Off Hastings, William Turner, early-mid 1800s (he has a bunch of naval paintings worth looking at)

For naval battle paintings of that era, Thomas Whitcombe might be useful. He doesn't have close-ups on people, but distant scenes of naval battle.
posted by LobsterMitten at 9:16 PM on July 5

This is great stuff. I appreciate the tip, Rumple; I marked that first answer as best to indicate that I was looking for that exact sort of image.

Why is a silly and a embarrassing story—it's for a gift for my husband. A while back I made him a birthday card with a drawing of our two cats in a little boat, with old-fashioned naval outfits on...heh. He reads Patrick O'Brian and all so he loved it. We got a dog last year and he said how much he wished he could have a picture like the first but with the dog on the boat. So I thought it would be fun to replicate a painting of the era but with our three pets, in Nelsonian garb...er, yeah. Told you it was silly.

Thanks again; these are all useful, and if anyone has any others I'd love to see them (those search links will be great, thanks for those too).
posted by TochterAusElysium at 10:34 PM on July 5

Oh, that's excellent. You know Geoff Hunt's your man, right? Four people (so close). More than three, but it has the Surprise in it.
posted by The corpse in the library at 11:15 AM on July 6

(Clarification: Geoff Hunt's your man as far as Aubrey / Maturin fandom, but he's a current artist.)
posted by The corpse in the library at 11:17 AM on July 6