Lot 33: A Royal Navy frigate caught in a squall off the Cloch lighthouse

John Knox (1778-1845)
A Royal Navy frigate caught in a squall off the Cloch lighthouse
oil on canvas
21½ x 30¼ in. (54.7 x 76.8 cm.)

Anonymous sale; Sotheby's Gleneagles, 2 September 1998, lot 1130.

By 1800 Scotland boasted nine coastal lighthouses, two of which - Little Cumbrae and Cloch - were operated by the Cumbrae Lighthouse Trustees. Their first light, erected on the island of Little Cumbrae in 1757, lit the entrance to the Firth of Clyde and proved so successful that, exactly forty years later, a second lighthouse was built on Cloch Point, just where the Clyde estuary turns eastwards towards Glasgow. Designed and erected under the supervision of James Clarkson, Thomas Smith (an Edinburgh lamp manufacturer who was also the stepfather of Robert Stevenson, the renowned lighthouse builder) supplied the lantern and reflectors, and the light itself was inaugurated on 11 t h August 1797. The first lightkeeper at Cloch was paid an annual salary "not to exceed 30 guineas" and was forbidden "to sell spirituous or any other kind of liquers in his dwelling house or in his lighthouse", this restriction a seemingly obvious requirement for a post carrying this responsibility but perhaps the rapidly growing importance of Glasgow as a shipbuilding and commercial centre required the qualification.

Strategically sited and commanding magnificent panoramic views of the Clyde, the Cloch lighthouse was often portrayed by both Robert Salmon (1775-c.1845) and William Clark (1803-83).

A Scottish painter of some repute, John Knox was a pupil of Alexander Nasmyth, and was also certainly influenced by Robert Salmon. He is best known for broad sweeping landscapes looking down on valleys and lochs, with travellers in the foreground admiring the scene. The general effect of his freshness of paint and quick brushstrokes is surreal, romantic and wonderfully dramatic.

There is similar version of this painting in the collection of the Glasgow Municipal Art Gallery & Museum.