Fire at the Theatre, Skate Lane, 1823 by George Chambers Senior |
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In Whitby museum is a striking painting of a fire that broke out on the night of July 25th, 1823 at Whitby's theatre. The building was at the junction of Newton Street and Skate Lane which is these days called Brunswick Street. Aged only 20, a young local artist named George Chambers (1803 - 1840) captured the scene on canvas. He would later go on to become a renowned and much admired marine painter. The life of his brother Thomas was however far more obscure and unusual.
The brothers were born into poverty
in Whitby, their father was a merchant seaman and their mother a laundress.
George, being recognized as a talented artist, was released from his maritime
apprenticeship to take up painting as full time employment. Thomas undoubtedly
learned skills and techniques from his older sibling, although his style was
much less conventional.
In 1832, at around the time George gained the patronage of King William
IV, Thomas emigrated to New Orleans where he filed his intent to become a
naturalized citizen. His employment was listed as a painter and restorer. He frequently
moved around the states from New York to Baltimore, Boston and Albany before
returning to New York and finally back to England. His paintings were never
exhibited during his lifetime.
They were often of marine subjects,
as were his brother George's, no doubt influenced by early experiences working
in the port of Whitby. He often drew inspiration from popular engravings of the time of naval battles and suchlike. Thomas also painted numerous landscapes with a
particular penchant for the Connecticut and Hudson River Valleys. It's worth
noting that there was at the time a movement called the Hudson River School of
Painting, but he remained outside the orbit of those artists.
He sometimes signed the work of which he was presumably most proud with 'T.
Chambers', although many pieces went unattributed and it seemed his art was
destined to be forgotten, languishing in barns and attics across America,
unseen and consigned to oblivion.
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The Constitution and the Guerriére Thomas Chambers c.1840-50. |
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| Lake George and the village of Caldwell |
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| The Connecticut Valley |
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| Packet Ship passing Castle William, New York harbour |
In 2008 Kathleen A. Foster, the American art historian, critic, and curator published the book Thomas Chambers: American Marine and Landscape Painter, 1808-1869. It is a painstaking piece of critical research examining Chambers' creative style, the environment in which he produced his art and an outline of his journey through life. It is available in full as a free PDF and includes many vivid images (see links).
