(b Whitehaven, Cumberland, England, 1775; d Boston, MA, 1845) British Painter. Robert Salmon was a very successful marine painter and is considered by many to be the father of American Luminism. He began his career in England. Salmon worked in the ports of Liverpool and in Greenock, Scotland. Then in 1828 he immigrated to Boston. Salmon quickly established an impressive client list of statesmen, merchants, businessmen, bankers and yachtsmen. He set up his studio on the waterfront and worked on commission painting boats for their wealthy owners. He also turned out small “cabinet pieces” which he then sold at public auction. Salmon’s distinctive style drew from the works of Dutch marine painters and he was renowned for his ability to capture every detail of a particular vessel.
Robert Salmon (Am. 1775-1858) Mail Packet from Liverpool to Glasgow, 1805 Oil on canvas, framed Initialed and dated l.r., exhibition label and partial exhibition label on stretcher verso, Vose Galleries label on backing verso, incised "TS" (Tuveson Studios) on frame verso 24 1/8" x 34 1/8" actual, 32" x 42" framed
Robert Salmon (American 1775-1840) Oil on Panel "Shipping in a Mountainous Strait, Fisher Folk on Shore", signed and dated lower right R. Salmon, 1826, inscribed in his hand verso: Painted by Robert Salmon, 1826 and numbered N. 517, also with indistinct inscriptions in pencil; in original handmade floral sprig gilt frame (one rosette missing) collector number 1814 on frame panel. Panel 11.25 in. x 17.25 in. Sight 10.75 in. x 16.75 in. Framed 16.25 in. x 22.5 in.
SALMON, Robert (Scottish American, 1775-1848). The Ship Liverpool in the Mercey, seen from Wallasey. Oil on canvas. Signed with initials and dated lower right: “RS 1810”. 31 1/4” x 42 1/4” canvas, 37” x 47 3/4” framed. Auction history: Phillips London, 19th Century British and European Paintings sale, 3 April 2001, Lot 26, sold for $40,149; Christie’s New York, Maritime sale, 3 February 2005, lot 199, sold for $132,000 Like a number of both Salmon's British and American subjects, The Ship Liverpool in the Mercey, seen from Wallasey, offers a fascinating combination of genre and cityscape as well as a marine view. In the foreground, center, a few men appear to be lowering the mast on a small vessel and walking on to the beach, while a larger Dutch ship, identified by the flag, is at the right, and in the middle distance is a British ship in full sail in the harbor. Unusual for the artist, Salmon identifies the vessel as the "Liverpool," its name delineated across its stern. This was a six-year old ship built in Philadelphia, and voyaging between that city and Liverpool. In the distance is the shoreline of Liverpool, then nearing by 1810, a population of 100,000. Salmon endows his picture with the accuracy of the identifiable buildings in the distance, along with the vigorousness of the lapping waves, the strong gray cloud formations contrasting with the bright blue sky, and the billowing sails of the British ship. Wallasey, from which Salmon has chosen to paint, is situated at the northeastern corner of the Wirral peninsula. It had been sparsely populated until the beginning of the nineteenth century, and had been known as a base for smuggling. But about the time this work was painted, Liverpool merchants and ship captains were just beginning to build homes in the area. Meanwhile, it was an ideal spot from which to survey the mouth of the Mersey River, with the ships for fishing, commerce, and naval activities, along with the panoramic shoreline of Liverpool beyond. Salmon's accuracy in delineation is not confined to his intimate knowledge of ship construction and rigging. His panorama of the distant port of Liverpool is amazingly accurate. On the left of Liverpool is seen the Townsend windmill, its arms turned to face the southerly wind. The dome on the skyline to the right of the ship is that of St. Paul's; then that of the Town Hall, followed by the spire of St. George's. Just to the left of the ferry's mizzen mast is the spire of St. Nicholas (the spire collapsed in 1810, the year of the painting; its replacement in 1814 having a more sophisticated "lantern" design).. The Ship Liverpool in the Mercey, seen from Wallasey would seem to be one of Salmon's most admired and successful paintings. It would appear that he painted the subject at least three times, with only slight variations. The earliest was painted in 1801 (sold at Christie's on December 3, 1908) with the ships having different flag identifications, the figural arrangements are slightly different, and Salmon displays a less exacting rendition of the Liverpool skyline. This also belies Salmon's own statement that he painted his first work only in 1806, since, in fact, other pictures created in the first years of the century are also known; Salmon's earliest dated painting was created in 1800 and he began exhibiting his work in 1802.. On the 21st of March, 2002, a much later version, painted in 1825 was sold at Phillip, de Pury and Company, with very different ships-one flying the Swedish flag, and the water painted closer to the scallop-like waves which were regularly used once Salmon settled in Boston three years later. And the basic format of this painting reappears in one of his last Boston pictures, Liverpool, Mercy River, painted in 1840, in the collection of the Peabody-Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, though there is far more traffic on the Mersey River, and the primary ship (British) is seen port side, parallel to the picture plane. Robert Salmon was both an exceptionally fine artist and one of historical significance in the history of American art. He was only the second professional marine specialist to work in the United States-Thomas Birch, in Philadelphia, preceded him-and the first in New England. Thus, Salmon represents the beginning of a vital artistic tradition which would include Fitz Henry Lane at mid-century, and Winslow Homer in the last decades of the nineteenth century. Like Birch, Salmon was born in England, but unlike the former, whose father, William, was a noted artist in his native land, Thomas Birch developed his art in the new American republic. Salmon was a well-established marine painter in both England and Scotland before he immigrated to the United States in 1828. Thus, he was very much a part of the impressive tradition of marine painting in Great Britain that began as early as 1673 when both Willem Van de Veldes, Senior and Junior, brought the Dutch artistic naval tradition from The Netherlands to England. British and foreign-born artists worked and were well-patronized in Great Britain in the eighteenth century, including such painters as Peter Monamy, Samuel Scott, Nicholas Pocock, Thomas Luny, and Domenic Serres. These artists specialized primarily in two forms of marine art: naval battles and ship portraiture. This tradition continued in Great Britain well into the nineteenth century, inaugurated by Salmon. Unlike those artists, however, Salmon's oeuvre was quite varied. He remains categorized as a "marine artist," for ships and water figure in almost all of his paintings. But, while much of his attention was given to ship portraiture, he essayed many other aspects of marine painting-storms at sea, shipwrecks, fleet regattas, and other subjects such as landscapes, usually with a distant view of the sea. Unlike many of the British artists, and also unlike Birch, Salmon was only seldom given to paint naval battles, though he listed as his earliest picture a now-lost Battle of Trafalgar, painted in 1806, and immediately after his arrival in the United States he painted and then exhibited, between 1828 and 1830, a series of large, fifteen-foot paintings of the 1816 bombardment of Algiers by an Anglo-Dutch fleet, probably based upon a panorama which he had seen when it had circulated in Great Britain. A further influence upon the nature of Salmon's artistry-shared with the earlier Samuel Scott-was the tight and meticulous strategies of the great Italian artist, Antonio Canaletto, much admired and collected in England, who spent a decade there beginning in 1746. And like Canaletto, though transformed into his own very personal style, Salmon was especially a painter of ports and harbors, fascinated both by the activities he found there, and by the distinctive layout and buildings, distinguishing between each of these cities and towns he depicted. Salmon was born in the port city of Whitehaven in Cumberland, England, and was inspired to his specialty by the environment in which he grew up. Much of his career in Great Britain was spent there and in Liverpool. In 1811 he travelled to work in the ship-building town of Greenock on the west coast of Scotland, moving between there and Liverpool; he was, therefore, both an English and Scottish painter. In 1827 he traveled extensively—he was in London, on the southern coast in Southampton, and then up in the far northwestern city of North Shields at the mouth of the Tyne River, near Newcastle. He left North Shields in May of 1828, and the following month departed on the packet ship, New York from Liverpool, the major port of embarkation for the United States. Arriving in New York, Salmon immediately departed for Boston and appears to have abandoned the more peripatetic life he had led in Great Britain. He was a prolific artist of scenes and subjects similar to those he had painted in his native land. Furthermore, while the majority of his pictures painted in Boston are recognizable American subjects, he also continued to paint or perhaps replicate his British ones--his Shields, England, in the collection of the United States Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis, was painted around 1833---- suggesting an appreciation and demand for foreign subjects among his New England clientele. By 1840, it appears that his eyesight had begun to fail and he is thought to have returned to England, but large panoramas of Palermo and Venice are known from 1845 (Fundacion Coleccion, Thyssen-Bornermizsa, Madrid), which exhibit no diminishing of abilities and are, perhaps, even closer to the aesthetics of Canaletto. Otherwise his final years and his date of death remain unknown.
SALMON, Robert (Scottish American, 1775-1848). Man O’ War Off Liverpool. Oil on canvas. Signed with artist’s initials and illegibly dated bottom right: “R.S. 18**”. 22” x 32” canvas, 28” x 37 ¾” framed. Auction Record: Freemans: Sunday, December 6, 2002. American Art & Pennsylvania Impressionists. $35,000. Robert Salmon was both an exceptionally fine artist and one of historical significance in the history of American art. He was only the second professional marine specialist to work in the United States-Thomas Birch, in Philadelphia, preceded him-and the first in New England. Thus, Salmon represents the beginning of a vital artistic tradition which would include Fitz Henry Lane at mid-century, and Winslow Homer in the last decades of the nineteenth century. Like Birch, Salmon was born in England, but unlike the former, whose father, William, was a noted artist in his native land, Thomas Birch developed his art in the new American republic. Salmon was a well-established marine painter in both England and Scotland before he immigrated to the United States in 1828. Thus, he was very much a part of the impressive tradition of marine painting in Great Britain that began as early as 1673 when both Willem Van de Veldes, Senior and Junior, brought the Dutch artistic naval tradition from The Netherlands to England. British and foreign-born artists worked and were well-patronized in Great Britain in the eighteenth century, including such painters as Peter Monamy, Samuel Scott, Nicholas Pocock, Thomas Luny, and Domenic Serres. These artists specialized primarily in two forms of marine art: naval battles and ship portraiture. This tradition continued in Great Britain well into the nineteenth century, inaugurated by Salmon. Unlike those artists, however, Salmon's oeuvre was quite varied. He remains categorized as a "marine artist," for ships and water figure in almost all of his paintings. But, while much of his attention was given to ship portraiture, he essayed many other aspects of marine painting-storms at sea, shipwrecks, fleet regattas, and other subjects such as landscapes, usually with a distant view of the sea. Unlike many of the British artists, and also unlike Birch, Salmon was only seldom given to paint naval battles, though he listed as his earliest picture a now-lost Battle of Trafalgar, painted in 1806, and immediately after his arrival in the United States he painted and then exhibited, between 1828 and 1830, a series of large, fifteen-foot paintings of the 1816 bombardment of Algiers by an Anglo-Dutch fleet, probably based upon a panorama which he had seen when it had circulated in Great Britain. A further influence upon the nature of Salmon's artistry-shared with the earlier Samuel Scott-was the tight and meticulous strategies of the great Italian artist, Antonio Canaletto, much admired and collected in England, who spent a decade there beginning in 1746. And like Canaletto, though transformed into his own very personal style, Salmon was especially a painter of ports and harbors, fascinated both by the activities he found there, and by the distinctive layout and buildings, distinguishing between each of these cities and towns he depicted. Salmon was born in the port city of Whitehaven in Cumberland, England, and was inspired to his specialty by the environment in which he grew up. Much of his career in Great Britain was spent there and in Liverpool. In 1811 he traveled to work in the ship-building town of Greenock on the west coast of Scotland, moving between there and Liverpool; he was, therefore, both an English and Scottish painter. In 1827 he traveled extensively—he was in London, on the southern coast in Southampton, and then up in the far northwestern city of North Shields at the mouth of the Tyne River, near Newcastle. He left North Shields in May of 1828, and the following month departed on the packet ship, New York from Liverpool, the major port of embarkation for the United States. Arriving in New York, Salmon immediately departed for Boston and appears to have abandoned the more peripatetic life he had led in Great Britain. He was a prolific artist of scenes and subjects similar to those he had painted in his native land. Furthermore, while the majority of his pictures painted in Boston are recognizable American subjects, he also continued to paint or perhaps replicate his British ones--his Shields, England, in the collection of the United States Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis, was painted around 1833---- suggesting an appreciation and demand for foreign subjects among his New England clientele. By 1840, it appears that his eyesight had begun to fail and he is thought to have returned to England, but large panoramas of Palermo and Venice are known from 1845 (Fundacion Coleccion, Thyssen-Bornermizsa, Madrid), which exhibit no diminishing of abilities and are, perhaps, even closer to the aesthetics of Canaletto. Otherwise his final years and his date of death remain unknown.
SALMON, Robert (Scottish American, 1775-1848). Leith Harbor [Edinburgh, Scotland]. Oil on panel. Signed with monogram and dated lower right: “RS 1828”. Signed, dated, and numbered on reverse: “No. 599/ Painted by Robert Salmon/ 1828. 16 1/4” x 26’ panel, 22 1/2” x 32” framed. Provenance: Thomas Handasyd Perkins, Jr. Augustus Thorndike Perkins (son of the preceding). Collection of Lawrence Park, acquired from the above. Northeast Auctions, 20 August 2006 Marine & China Trade Auction, lot 1081, sold for $182,000 by the above. Though the manuscript catalogue of his paintings, now in the Boston Public Library, does not mention a working visit to the Scottish capital of Edinburgh, this must have occurred either after, or, more likely just prior, to his stay in North Shields, since the two cities are not too distant; all of Salmon's known British works painted in Northwestern England and in the adjacent area of Scotland are dated to 1827 and 1828. That would account for a number of paintings in the vicinity of Edinburgh, including the present work, Leith Harbour, dated to 1828, his last year in Great Britain; Leith is the harbor city for Edinburgh, incorporated as of 1920 into the Scottish capital. Salmon must have brought Leith Harbour with him to America, for it is, in all likelihood, the View of Leith which he exhibited for sale in 1829 at the Boston Athenaeum (#197), the principal venue for art exhibitions in Boston, having begun its annual shows only two years earlier. Even more significantly, this is almost surely the picture shown at the Athenaeum again the following year, 1830 (#91), now owned by Thomas Handasyd Perkins, Jr., the son and namesake of the most important art collector in Boston in the early decades of the 1800s. Perkins, Jr. was an important collector in his own right. Salmon had begun to attract favorable attention immediately on his arrival in Boston in 1828, exhibiting eleven pictures at the Athenaeum in 1829 and eight in 1830. His two competitors among the land- and seascapists in Boston at the time were Alvan Fisher and Thomas Doughty, but the reviewer for the North American Review in 1830, reviewing the Athenaeum annual, noted that: "The works of Salmon have a more decidedly characteristic manner than those of Doughty or Fisher, and are, we believe, in general, greater favorites with the public." Salmon's manuscript catalogue lists at least six more paintings sold to the Perkins-father or son. And, in 1835, he replicated his Leith Harbour, (now in the Mariner's Museum in Newport News, Virginia), which he sold in a large auction of his pictures held on May 22 in Corinthian Hall, Boston. By singularly good fortune, a letter dated June 7, 1881, is appended to Salmon's manuscript catalogue of paintings, written by Augustus Thorndike Perkins, the son and heir to the first owner of Leith Harbour to William Henry Whitmore, the earliest antiquarian to investigate the early arts in Boston and New England. Whitmore had been inquiring about Robert Salmon, and Perkins responded with descriptions of the four paintings by the artist in his collection. He wrote: "The second picture is an English land locked Bay with a light house on left a large Dutch Ship, stern on, near the land; in the center an English Cutter under jib and mainsail, close halled [sic], coming in....The picture is 2 ft. 2 in by 1 ft 5 in wide." Thus, by 1881, the painting had remained in the prestigious Perkins family, though the specific identity of the location had been forgotten. However, in keeping with Salmon's concern for veracity and distinct characteristics, he here defined Leith and its activities as a major, active port. The "light house" at the left is actually the Signal Tower. This was a defining structure at the inner entrance to the harbor, a circular tower at the end of The Shore, originally a windmill built in 1686 by Robert Mylne, to extract oil from rape-seed. Its sails and domed roof was replaced by battlements in 1805, obviously before Salmon painted it so distinctively. Even the small, sloped-roof structure with a chimney beside the tower, the first structure on The Shore road, is accurately shown. In the far distance, behind the English Cutter, is a long horizontal building, most probably the monumental Custom House, at the end of the docks of Leith, built in neoclassic style in 1812 by Robert Reid. (Alternatively, the structure may be the Exchange Buildings, built by Thomas Brown in neoclassic style in 1809; both are on Constitution Street in Leith). On one side or another of that building is the Water of Leith, the twenty-four mile long river that passes through Edinburgh. Salmon, in this exceptionally fine example of his very individual approach to marine art, exploits to the fullest four of his major concerns and achievements. First, he is a marine painter, and he emphasizes not only the contrast of the two ships-the full-sail English cutter and the smaller Dutch ship dockside, but the harbor is filled with a variety of other sailing vessels, to offer a full panoply of ships, large and small. Secondly, he emphasizes the activities and purposes of this lively port, receptive to foreign as well as domestic shipping, figures on boats and ships, and those on docks, some of whom are almost certainly involved in shipping activity. Thirdly, he defines the specific nature of this port city, Leith, in particular, with its identifiable buildings, the row of houses along The Shore, the configuration of the waterway and bridges. And finally, he is able to dramatize the scene with his unique aesthetic powers-the strong deep tones of grey-green and gray-blue, enlivened by the near-white sails and the touches of red in the flags. This chromatic combination is Salmon's own, along with his command of dramatic chiaroscuro. Salmon imparts upon the scene an impressive treatment of strong light within a darkening environment, so that a series of parallel planes of light and dark on both water and shore carry the viewer back into space. The whole is illuminated with a separate light in the sky-not rich blues with puffy white clouds--but an oval glow, fading into grey at the upper corners, which cast the ships in majestic silhouette. ------ Robert Salmon was both an exceptionally fine artist and one of historical significance in the history of American art. He was only the second professional marine specialist to work in the United States-Thomas Birch, in Philadelphia, preceded him-and the first in New England. Thus, Salmon represents the beginning of a vital artistic tradition which would include Fitz Henry Lane at mid-century, and Winslow Homer in the last decades of the nineteenth century. Like Birch, Salmon was born in England, but unlike the former, whose father, William, was a noted artist in his native land, Thomas Birch developed his art in the new American republic. Salmon was a well-established marine painter in both England and Scotland before he immigrated to the United States in 1828. Thus, he was very much a part of the impressive tradition of marine painting in Great Britain that began as early as 1673 when both Willem Van de Veldes, Senior and Junior, brought the Dutch artistic naval tradition from The Netherlands to England. British and foreign-born artists worked and were well-patronized in Great Britain in the eighteenth century, including such painters as Peter Monamy, Samuel Scott, Nicholas Pocock, Thomas Luny, and Domenic Serres. These artists specialized primarily in two forms of marine art: naval battles and ship portraiture. This tradition continued in Great Britain well into the nineteenth century, inaugurated by Salmon. Unlike those artists, however, Salmon's oeuvre was quite varied. He remains categorized as a "marine artist," for ships and water figure in almost all of his paintings. But, while much of his attention was given to ship portraiture, he essayed many other aspects of marine painting-storms at sea, shipwrecks, fleet regattas, and other subjects such as landscapes, usually with a distant view of the sea. Unlike many of the British artists, and also unlike Birch, Salmon was only seldom given to paint naval battles, though he listed as his earliest picture a now-lost Battle of Trafalgar, painted in 1806, and immediately after his arrival in the United States he painted and then exhibited, between 1828 and 1830, a series of large, fifteen-foot paintings of the 1816 bombardment of Algiers by an Anglo-Dutch fleet, probably based upon a panorama which he had seen when it had circulated in Great Britain. A further influence upon the nature of Salmon's artistry-shared with the earlier Samuel Scott-was the tight and meticulous strategies of the great Italian artist, Antonio Canaletto, much admired and collected in England, who spent a decade there beginning in 1746. And like Canaletto, though transformed into his own very personal style, Salmon was especially a painter of ports and harbors, fascinated both by the activities he found there, and by the distinctive layout and buildings, distinguishing between each of these cities and towns he depicted. Salmon was born in the port city of Whitehaven in Cumberland, England, and was inspired to his specialty by the environment in which he grew up. Much of his career in Great Britain was spent there and in Liverpool. In 1811 he travelled to work in the ship-building town of Greenock on the west coast of Scotland, moving between there and Liverpool; he was, therefore, both an English and Scottish painter. In 1827 he traveled extensively—he was in London, on the southern coast in Southampton, and then up in the far northwestern city of North Shields at the mouth of the Tyne River, near Newcastle. He left North Shields in May of 1828, and the following month departed on the packet ship, New York from Liverpool, the major port of embarkation for the United States. Arriving in New York, Salmon immediately departed for Boston and appears to have abandoned the more peripatetic life he had led in Great Britain. He was a prolific artist of scenes and subjects similar to those he had painted in his native land. Furthermore, while the majority of his pictures painted in Boston are recognizable American subjects, he also continued to paint or perhaps replicate his British ones--his Shields, England, in the collection of the United States Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis, was painted around 1833---- suggesting an appreciation and demand for foreign subjects among his New England clientele. By 1840, it appears that his eyesight had begun to fail and he is thought to have returned to England, but large panoramas of Palermo and Venice are known from 1845 (Fundacion Coleccion, Thyssen-Bornermizsa, Madrid), which exhibit no diminishing of abilities and are, perhaps, even closer to the aesthetics of Canaletto. Otherwise his final years and his date of death remain unknown.
Oil on canvas, 1818, signed with initials 'RS' and dated twice lower right, lined. 23 x 37 in., 31 1/2 x 45 in. (frame). Literature: Alan Granby, A Yachtsman's Eye, 2004, pp. 212-213 (illust.).
Oil on canvas, 1820, signed with initials 'RS' and dated lower right, lined. 23 x 27 in., 30 1/4 x 44 1/4 in. (frame). Literature: John Wilmerding, Robert Salmon, Painter of Ship and Shore, illust. p. 20; A.S. Davidson, Marine Art & The Clyde, Illust. p. 36.
Robert Salmon (British/American 1775-1844), oil on board titled View Near Anthony's Nose Hudson River, signed verso and dated 1834, 5" x 6 1/2". Provenance: A New York collection. Competitive in-house shipping is available for this lot.
AFTER ROBERT SALMON (BRITISH 1775-1845) COASTAL VIEW WITH TWO FISHERMEN MENDING A BOAT bears inscription R.P. Bonington lower left oil on panel 14.7 x 20.6cm; 5 3/4 x 8in 22.5 x 29cm; 8 3/4 x 11 1/2in (framed) Property of a Gentleman *offered for sale without reserve
SALMON, Robert (American/Scottish, 1775-1844). Leith Harbour [Edinburgh, Scotland]. Oil on panel. Signed in monogram and dated lower right: "RS 1828" Signed, dated and numbered on reverse: "No. 599/ Painted by Robert Salmon/ 1828" 16 1/4 x 26 panel, 22 1/2 x 32 framed. Provenance: Collection of Lawrence Park. Exhibited: Robert Salmon, Lincoln, Massachusetts, De Cordova Museum, March 26-April 20, 1967, no. S.E. 307 Leith was one of Scotlands principal ports, and was independent from the City of Edinburgh until 1920. Robert Salmon shows a variety of boats in the harbor, possibly sheltering from the storm clouds fast approaching. The round building at the edge of the harbor and painted in the left foreground is the Signal Tower, built in 1686 by Robert Mylne. Originally it was a windmill, used to extract oil from rape-seed. In 1805, the sails and domed roof were replaced with a parapet, from which flags were flown as signals to ships. As this work makes evident, Robert Salmon was fully capable of sentiment in the best sense, of expressing his personal feelings about a place, and of capturing the particular character of what he saw before him. His ships are painted with a precision and clarity of tone that is reminiscent of the Roux family, while his sea has a distinct formality, carefully crafted and disciplined in his unique manner. However, it is his exquisite use of light illuminating this scene that makes this particular composition an extraordinarily romantic and expressive evocation of Leith Harbour. Salmons painting of Leith Harbour was completed in the same year that the artist sailed from Britain to America. Born in Whitehaven, Cumberland, Robert Salmon settled in Liverpool in 1806 before moving to Greenock, Scotland in 1811. In 1828, he decided to sail for America and settled in Boston for the next thirteen years. It was here that he achieved his greatest fame attracting pupils such as Fitz Hugh Lane (1804-1865). The artist brought with him a considerable number of works, with hopes for an American market for his British scenes. One hundred and eighteen paintings executed between 1826 and 1828 were sold at auction in Boston a few years later. This painting of Leith Harbour is undoubtedly one of those Salmon brought with him.
Robert Salmon British/American, 1775-1844 Aftermath of a Tyne River Storm Inscribed Painted by R. Salmon/1840 and numbered H=30 on the reverse Oil on panel 16 x 24 1/4 inches (40.6 x 61.5 cm) Provenance: Vallejo Gallery, Newport Beach, CA C Property from a Prominent Private Collection
Robert W. Salmon, (British/American, 1775-1845) Sailboat by the shore with figures, Mountain range in the Distance, signature, title plaque, signed R.W. Salmon, l.l., watercolor on paper, framed. Overall size: 15 1/2 x 13 1/2 in. Image size: 9 1/2 x 6 3/4 in. #3481 Location O
ROBERT W. SALMON (BRITISH, 1775- 1851) - A BEACHED CUTTER ON THE DEVON COAST ROBERT W. SALMON (BRITISH, 1775 - 1851) A beached cutter on the Devon coast Signed and dated 'R.S. 1823' (lower right) Oil on panel 8½ x 11 in. (21.5 x 28cm.) Original condition. Needs to be cleaned.
Robert Salmon (British, 1775-1845) The Scottish Lighthouse Board's tender numbered and indistinctly inscribed 'N o454/Painted by' (verso) oil on panel 50.7 x 78.9cm (20 x 31 in).
ROBERT SALMON America/England, 1775-c.1845 "English Cutter and Lugger, off North Shields, 1840". Inscribed verso in the artist's hand "No. 28 Painted by R. Salmon 1840". Titled on frame plaque.
Robert Salmon (American/Scottish, 1775–1844) Boston Landscape. Signed verso "RS". Numbered 133. Oil on board, 23 x 36-1/2 inches. Framed 29 x 42 inches.
Robert Salmon (British, 1775-1845) The Isles of Bute looking North signed, dated and inscribed 'No 617/Painted by Robert Salmon/1828' (on board verso) oil on board 41.7 x 60.3 cm. (16 7/16 x 23 3/4 in.) For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website
Robert Salmon (British, 1775-1845) Fisherfolk on a shore tending their nets signed with strengthened initials and dated 'RS 1818' (lower right) oil on panel 23.8 x 29.2cm (9 3/8 x 11 1/2in). For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website
Robert Salmon (British, 1775-1845) The Scottish Lighthouse Board's tender numbered and indistinctly inscribed 'N o454/Painted by' (panel verso) oil on panel 50.7 x 78.9cm (20 x 31 in). For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website
Robert Salmon (British, 1775-1845) Shipping in the Mersey, Liverpool beyond signed, dated and inscribed with artist's stock no. 'No 509/Painted by Robert Salmon/1826' (on panel verso) oil on panel 42.1 x 34.7cm (16 9/16 x 13 11/16in). For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website
"A British Brig & Frigate off the Mouth of the Mersey", oil on panel, unsigned, artist identified and title given on frame tag, also giving the date of 1824; housed in a replica bright gold matched corner molded frame, OS: 25 1/2" x 36 1/2", SS: 19 1/2" x 30 1/2". Cleaned and retouched, repaired crack lower left.
Robert Salmon (British, 1775-1845) Shipping in the Mersey, Liverpool beyond signed, dated and inscribed with artist's stock no. 'No 509/Painted by Robert Salmon/1826' (on panel verso) oil on panel 42.1 x 34.7cm (16 9/16 x 13 11/16in). For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website
ROBERT SALMON England/Massachusetts, 1775-c. 1851 "Ships and a brig of the John Gladstone & Company fleet in the Mersey". Signed lower right "R. Salmon". Titled on frame plaque.
Robert Salmon (American/Scottish, 1775-1844) A privateer in two positions leaving Whitehaven Harbour, 1801 oil on canvas initialed RS and dated (lower right) 28 x 50 inches. Provenance: Sold: Bonhams, London, September 12, 2006, Lot 84 Richard Green, London Acquired directly from the above by the present owner, 2010
Robert Salmon (British, 1775-1845) Dumbarton Castle signed, dated and inscribed 'N o990/painted by R Salmon/1838/Dumbarton Castle' (panel verso) oil on panel 14.6 x 21.1cm (5 3/4 x 8 1/4in). For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website
Robert Salmon (British, 1775-1845) The Scottish Lighthouse Board's tender numbered and indistinctly inscribed 'N o454/Painted by' (panel verso) oil on panel 50.7 x 78.9cm (20 x 31 in). For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website
Property from a South Carolina Collection Robert Salmon Whitehaven, Cumberland 1775 - circa 1845 Along the Shore oil on canvas circa 1825 Height 24 3/4 in. by Width 31 in.
Attributed to Robert Salmon (American/Scottish, 1775–1844) Lone British Schooner Signed illegibly on wood drift bottom center right, oil on canvas 25 3/4 x 42 in. (65.4 x 106.7cm) provenance: Private Collection, Connecticut.
Robert Salmon (American/Scottish, 1775–1844) Man O' War Off Liverpool Signed with artist's initials and illegibly dated 'R.S. 18**' bottom right, oil on canvas 22 x 32 in. (55.9 x 81.3cm) provenance: Private Corporate Collection, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
ROBERT SALMON England/Massachusetts, 1775-c. 1851 "Ships and a brig of the John Gladstone & Company fleet in the Mersey". Signed lower right "R. Salmon". Titled on frame plaque. Provenance: Private Collection, New York. Oil on canvas, 26" x 43". Framed 35" x 51".
ROBERT SALMON England/Massachusetts, 1775-c. 1851 Numerous small vessels off a cliff-side lighthouse. Unsigned. Provenance: Private Collection, New York. Oil on panel, 7.75" x 9.75". Framed 13" x 15".
ROBERT SALMON England/Massachusetts, 1775-c. 1851 "Dumbarton Castle". Signed verso "RS". Numbered 990. Dated 1833. Provenance: Private Collection, New York. Oil on panel, 6" x 8.25". Framed 13" x 16".
Robert Salmon English/American, 1775-c. 1845 Tynemouth Lighthouse Signed with initials RS and dated 1826 (lr); inscribed H. 85/Painted by R. Salmon/1836/Tynemouth Lighthouse on the verso Oil on panel 5 7/8 x 8 3/8 inches (15 x 21.3 cm) Provenance: Marine Art Gallery, Essex, MA E. Newbold Smith, Philadelphia Gloria and Richard Manney, New York Exhibited: Berry Hill Galleries, New York Literature: John Wilmerding, Robert Salmon: Painter of Ship & Shore (Boston, 1971), no. 850
Robert Salmon (1775-1848) An outward-bound, 18-gun merchantman at the ‘Tail of the Bank’, portrayed in three positions signed with initials and dated 'R.S. 1814.' oil on canvas 16 ¾ x 25 ¾ in. (42.5 x 65.4 cm.)
SALMON, Robert (1775-1845). The full-rigged merchantman Liverpool in the Mersey, seen from the Wallasey foreshore. Oil on canvas. Signed with initials and dated lower right "RS 1810". 31 1/8" x 41 15/16" canvas, framed? Provenance: Anon. sale, Christie's, New York, 3 February 2005, lot 199. The American author John Wilmerding sub-titled his magisterial biography of Robert Salmon as a "Painter of Ship and Shore", and the fine view offered in this catalogue is a typical composition by the artist which incorporates both elements. Likewise, when the painting was seen by the late A. S. 'Sam' Davidson, he too described it with his usual perception and commented as follows:- "Depicting the distant Liverpool waterfront across a wide estuary poses problems of composition. At this period, when Wallasey was undeveloped, an attractive solution was to view it obliquely as seen from the north-west, including part of the unspoiled Wallasey foreshore as foreground. Beached vessels on the right of the painting not only enhanced the nautical flavour, but helped 'frame' the distant panorama. As in this instance, human interest was often imparted by passengers wading or being conveyed ashore from a ferry in the foreground. The mouth of the Mersey lies off the painting to the left. Its broad upper reaches are visible between the masts of the small boat athwart the bluff bows of the Dutch ketch on the right. In the middle distance on the left of the painting, a British ship is seen in port quarter view. Most unusually for Salmon the vessel is identifiable....", and has the name Liverpool emblazoned across her stern. The Lloyd's Register (of Shipping) for 1810 contains only one vessel of this name, a full-rigged three-master of 315 tons built in Philadelphia in 1804. Commanded (in 1810) by Captain Bryan, she made regular crossings between Philadelphia and Liverpool although, by 1812, she was trading out of Liverpool to the Baltic. Later still, in 1818, she was sailing to Savannah and is probably the same vessel recorded as being wrecked in the Shannon estuary, Ireland, on 8th November 1825. In 1810, Liverpool was the principal entry port for trade with North America and the plethora of shipping the city attracted meant the inevitable birth of an entire 'school' of marine artists.
