Lot 2551: BRITISH SCHOOL, EARLY-19th CENTURY
The barque Lady Juliana, Capt. William Chapman, 1801
Oil on pine panel, mounted within a later painted supporting frame, measuring approx. 83cm x 69cm

A rare early-19th century folk art depiction of a ship sailed past its estimate in Great Western Auctions’ Autumn Fine Art & Antique Sale, achieving £6,669 (inc. buyer’s premium). 

Rich in human charm and transportive in their subject matter, naive maritime paintings are immensely popular at auction, with good examples reliably realising prices in the high hundreds. What set this example apart was the historical significance of the vessel represented.

In 1789, the British barque Lady Juliana embarked from Plymouth, as the first exclusively female convict transport bound for the newly established penal colony of Australia. Over the course of the 309-day voyage, the male crew customarily took "wives" from among the convicts, leading to the Juliana later being characterised as "nothing more than a floating brothel". This description may be somewhat misleading however, as it discounts the individuality, agency and apparently genuine romantic attachment with which the female prisoners conducted their liaisons, as recounted in the Steward John Nicol's personal diary. Among them were several notable early Australian settlers, including Elizabeth Steel, the first recorded deaf Australian, and Mary Wade, who by the time of her death in 1859 was purported to be the matriarch of a family of over three-hundred, spanning five generations.

Discovered by our Specialists in the attic of a castle in Highland Perthshire, the 83cm x 69cm oil on pine panel was of a type commonly seen decorating the interior of seamen’s chests of the period. It is likely that this was the work’s original context - and tantalising to consider the possibility that it once travelled aboard the very ship it depicts. 

Tommy Alexander, Specialist