Enfilade

From Royal Museums Greenwich:

Katherine Gazzard, The Art of Naval Portraiture (Greenwich: National Maritime Museum, 2024), 224 pages, ISBN: 978-1739154202, £30 / $45.

From elite officers to ordinary sailors, the portrayal of naval personnel has been a significant branch of British art for over 500 years. The National Maritime Museum, Greenwich holds the largest collection of naval portraits in the world, including over 600 paintings and many more prints and drawings, spanning from the sixteenth century to the present day. These portraits reveal how the Royal Navy was viewed at different moments in history and grant us access to individual stories, revealing the concerns and aspirations of people and families caught up in naval affairs. Many are also innovative and important works of art. For centuries, naval portraits have forged, reinforced, and challenged ideas of gender, heroism, and loyalty. They have functioned as icons of empire, demonstrations of professionalism, and personal mementos for loved ones. While charting the historical evolution of the Royal Navy’s image and explaining the meaning of common naval symbols—from anchors, cannons, and swords to uniforms, medals, and badges—this book also tells the stories of specific artists, sitters, and collectors, and of the places where portraits were made and displayed, from private homes to public exhibitions, and ultimately the museum itself.

Katherine Gazzard is the Curator of Art (post-1800) at Royal Museums Greenwich. She has taught courses on art history and museum studies for the University of East Anglia and Yale University. Her research focuses on eighteenth-century British art, especially portraiture and the cultural history of the Royal Navy.