SWAINE, Francis - b. ~1720 , d. 1782 London

English painter and draughtsman. He worked as a messenger for a department of His Majesty’s Navy in 1735 and seems to have been practising as a marine painter by the late 1740s, but there is little trace of his place in London’s art world until his regular contributions from 1761 to the exhibitions of both the Free and Incorporated Societies of Artists. He was awarded the Society for the Encouragement of Arts’ second prize for sea-pieces in 1764 and again in 1765.

Although we do not know how he came to be a marine painter, he was a close contemporary of Charles Brooking. He was also strongly influenced by the work of his father in law Peter Monamy, especially in his treatment of studio calms. This is why his work has been mistaken for both these artists’ as well as that of John Clevely. On the whole Swaine liked to paint general shipping subjects, often on a small scale. He also took commissions for actions.

The Royal William (formerly the Prince)

The canvas depicts the Royal William (formerly the Prince) flying the flag of an Admiral of the Blue saluting the flagship of a Vice-Admiral of the Red as they pass in the channel.

Designed and built at Chatham under the direction of Sir Phineas Pitt, great nephew of the builder of Charles I’s fabled Sovereign of the Seas, the Prince was one of the three first rates dating from 1670, all of which were laid down to replace the capital ships destroyed or captured by the Dutch during their infamous raid on the Medway in June 1667.