Charles Napier Hemy travelled round the world from 1850 to 1852 and became a lover of the sea. He first studied with W. Bell Scott in Newcastle art college, then joined the Dominican Order in the same city and was sent to continue his studies in Lyons. After coming of age in 1862, he left the Order to devote himself to painting. In 1867, he went to Antwerp to study with Henry Leys before returning to England in about 1870. Early in his career Hemy specialised in painting views of the Thames, together with some religious pictures and genre scenes of 16th-century life, but never forgot the sea, and after some years in London, went to live in Falmouth. Here, in his yacht, he could observe the ever-changing seas and created his best work. He is considered one of the most important marine artists of the modern English school.

Hemy exhibited from 1863 in London, where he became an associate of the Royal Academy and, in 1897, a member of the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours. He won a silver medal in Paris at the 1900 Exposition Universelle. He became a member of the Royal Academy in 1910.

Group Exhibitions

2007, British Vision: Observation and Imagination 1750-1950, Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Ghent

Solo Exhibitions

1984, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, and City Art Gallery, Plymouth

Museum and Gallery Holdings

Birmingham (Mus. and AG): Homeward (oil on canvas)

Bristol: Shrimp Fishermen Going Home; Homeward

Leeds (City AG): Birds of Prey (1901, oil on canvas)

Liverpool: Venice in Dull Weather; Under the Walls of Maastricht; How We Took the Thieves; Anniversary in Germany, 1575

Liverpool (Walker AG): A Nautical Argument (1877, oil on canvas)

London (Royal Academy of Arts): A Plymouth Hooker (1910, oil/panel, competition piece)

London (Tate Collection): Evening Grey (1866-1868, oil on canvas); Pilchards (1897, oil on canvas); London River (1904, oil on canvas)

Manchester (City AG): Old Putney Bridge (1882, oil on canvas)

Melbourne: The Buoy; C. Napier Hemy

Newcastle upon Tyne (Laing AG): Among the Shingle at Clovelly (1864, oil on canvas)

Sheffield: How the Boat Came Home

Sydney (AG of New South Wales): Smugglers: "To Save their Necks" (1889-1903, oil on paper on canvas)

Auction Records

London, 2 Dec 1907: Putney Bridge, GBP 42

London, 4 April 1908: Fishermen on the Seine, GBP 168

London, 27 March 1909: St Stennen Cove, Cornwall, GBP 63

London, 10 June 1909: In the Track of the Trawlers, GBP 336

London, 29 Jan 1910: Lobster Fishers, Falmouth, GBP 54

London, June 1922: The Port of London, GBP 48

London, Feb 1923: Hard Seamen, GBP 199

London, March 1923: Home, GBP 131

London, May 1923: Grief on the River. Lighthouse, GBP 105

London, June 1924: Cornish Harbour, GBP 75

London, 1 Dec 1925: Refreshing Breeze (drawing) GBP 44

London, 5 Feb 1926: Sunday Morning, GBP 178

London, 13 May 1927: Fair Wind, GBP 81

London, 23 March 1928: Fair Wind, Fine Weather, GBP 168

London, 22 June 1928: Unexpected Catch (drawing) GBP 52

London, 1 March 1929: Small Trawler (drawing) GBP 42

London, 13 Oct 1930: Shelter!, GBP 63

Newcastle, 10 July 1939: Squall, GBP 29

London, 25 July 1941: Wind (drawing) GBP 55

London, 11 Dec 1942: Lands End Crabbers, GBP 68

Glasgow, 17 March 1943: Getting Ready, GBP 33

Glasgow, 12 June 1945: Black Flag, GBP 30

London, 8 Feb 1946: Plymouth Fisherman, GBP 46

New York, 20-21 Feb 1946: Turbot Fishing, USD 300

London, 19 June 1946: Oyster Dredger, GBP 30

London, 2 May 1947: At the Foot of the Cliff (drawing) GBP 16

London, 17 Dec 1971: Portsmouth Harbour, Gns 580

London, 28 Nov 1972: Fishing Vessel at Sea, GBP 750

London, 15 June 1973: St Ives Harbour (1871) Gns 650

New York, 2 April 1976: Fishing Boats Coming Home (1901, oil on canvas, 24 × 36 ins/61 × 91.5 cm) USD 800

London, 28 Jan 1977: Burnmouth, Berwickshire (1874, oil on canvas, 29½ × 44½ ins/75 × 113 cm) GBP 1,100

Torquay, 13 June 1978: Sailing Vessel at Sea (1916, gouache, 19 × 26 ins/48 × 66 cm) GBP 700

London, 3 July 1979: Sea Coast (1860, oil on canvas, upper corners rounded, 11 × 17½ ins/28 × 44.5 cm) GBP 850

London, 7 Oct 1980: Repairing the Nets (1884, oil on canvas, 29½ × 19¼ ins/75 × 49 cm) GBP 2,600

New York, 13 Feb 1981: In the Train (oil on canvas, 36 × 54½ ins/91.5 × 138.5 cm) USD 7,500

London, 24 May 1984: Cold Harbour, Blackwall (1896, watercolour on light pencil heightened with gouache, 22 × 30½ ins/56 × 77.5 cm) GBP 2,600

London, 2 Oct 1985: In Spite of Wind and Weather (1912, oil on canvas, 40¼ × 59¾ ins/102 × 152 cm) GBP 13,000

London, 22 May 1986: Homewards (1895, gouache and watercolour, 23 × 35 ins/58.5 × 89 cm) GBP 5,400

London, 23 Sept 1988: Trawler (1879, oil on canvas, 28 × 36½ ins/71 × 93 cm) GBP 10,450

London, 25 Jan 1989: A Garden in the West (1890, watercolour and gouache, 13 × 18½ ins/33 × 47 cm) GBP 3,960

New York, 24 May 1989: In Spite of Bad Weather (1911, oil on canvas, 40¼ × 60 ins/102.3 × 152.4 cm) USD 26,400

London, 5 Oct 1989: Large Sailing Ship (oil on canvas, 18½ × 33½ ins/47 × 85 cm) GBP 3,300

London, 13 Dec 1989: Study of the Hall in the Plantin Museum, Antwerp (1870, oil on canvas, 24 × 36 ins/61 × 91.5 cm) GBP 1,045

London, 30 May 1990: Fishing, Approaching Squall (1907, oil on canvas, 46 × 84 ins/117 × 213.5 cm) GBP 27,500

London, 22 May 1991: Harbourmaster's Office, Limehouse Harbour (1891, watercolour heightened with white, 17½ × 26½ ins/44.5 × 67 cm) GBP 4,400

York, 12 Nov 1991: Antwerp Fishing Fleet Puts Out (watercolour, 8½ × 13 ins/21.5 × 33 cm) GBP 550

London, 19 Dec 1991: Cornish Shore (1897, oil on canvas, 20 × 30 ins/51 × 76 cm) GBP 2,860

London, 20 May 1992: Smugglers to Save their Necks (oil on canvas, 41 × 84¼ ins/104 × 214 cm) GBP 66,000

London, 13 Nov 1992: Flotsam after a Shipwreck (1864, oil on canvas, 17 × 27¼ ins/43.2 × 69.3 cm) GBP 9,900

London, 4 Nov 1994: Trawler (1899, oil on canvas, 27¼ × 36½ ins/69.2 × 92.6 cm) GBP 13,800

London, 3 May 1995: Raising the Nets (1888, oil on canvas, 36¼ × 54¼ ins/92 × 137.5 cm) GBP 19,550; The Black Flag in 1815 (1915, oil on canvas, 46 × 84 ins/117 × 213.5 cm) GBP 41,100

London, 30 May 1996: Light Wind at Sea (1912, watercolour and pastel, 17¼ × 26½ ins/44 × 67 cm) GBP 4,140

London, 7 June 1996: Fishing Boats off Flamborough Head (1863, oil on canvas, 12 × 18 ins/30.5 × 45.7 cm) GBP 3,450

London, 6 Nov 1996: Approaching Storm (1913, watercolour and gouache, 23¼ × 35 ins/59 × 89 cm) GBP 4,370

London, 29 May 1997: Dredging for Oysters (1916, watercolour heightened with white, 17¼ × 26½ ins/44 × 67 cm) GBP 5,750

London, 5 Nov 1997: Squall, Lower Away! (1915, watercolour heightened with white, 17¾ × 26½ ins/45 × 67 cm) GBP 7,4750