WHITCOMBE, Thomas

English marine painter. He painted mainly marine and topographical subjects, specializing in the naval vessels and battles of the Napoleonic Wars. His greatest preoccupation was recording the ships and sea battles of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, during which British naval supremacy in the Mediterranean, and the victories of the British fleet at battles such as the Nile, Camperdown, and Trafalgar, constantly thwarted Napoleon’s ambitions.

Little is known of his background and artistic training. In 1787 he was in Bristol and later travelled to the South Coast and the Channel Islands, numerous marine topographical views surviving from these dates. In 1789 he was touring Wales and in 1813 he went to Devon painting scenes around Plymouth harbour. During his career he also painted scenes showing the Cape of Good Hope, Madeira, Cuba and the Horn.

His range of work embraced naval engagements, ship portraits, coastal scenes with shipping and ships at sea in fresh breezes and storms. The topography of the background is well observed and the depiction of the ships themselves detailed and technically correct, a legacy, presumably, of time spent in dockyards or onboard ship studying the subject matter.

Whitcombe exhibited at the Royal Academy 56 times between 1783 and 1824 and once each at the British Institute and the Royal Society of British Artists.