Ship paintings are very valued. Marine Art is a broad niche in painting and sculpture. These paintings depict ships engaged in battle, merchant vessels drifting over the horizon, exploration vessels of ancient times, and ships of influential generals and pirates.

Many of the world’s famous ship paintings date back to the Age of Exploration. These paintings are from the 16th to the 18th centuries. These were the times when quick improvements in maritime technology revolutionized shipping. Many new maritime vessels were constructed to fulfill the needs of effective naval states like Portugal, Spain. Later the British Empire.

In this article, we look at the world’s ten famous ship paintings.

1) The Fighting Temeraire Tugged to the last Berth to be Broken Up (1838)

One of the more famous paintings by the English artist Joseph Mallord William Turner shows the last voyage of the Admiralty’s leading vessel, 90-gun HMS Temeraire, as it had been taken from the Thames River to Rotherhithe in London for scrapping. 

The  1838 oil-on-canvas painting got great attention from art lovers and audiences for the symbolism and vivid play of colors. Painted in the era of Romanticism. It also showed the coming of the age of steamships.

2) The Storm on the Sea of Galilee

The old oil painting from the Dutch Baroque artist Rembrandt Van Rijin is one of the famous ship paintings stolen in the world. The serene work shows the biblical event of Jesus calming the storm on this sea. As described in the holy book. It is the painter’s only seascape painting.

It shows Jesus sitting calm while his disciples try to remain composed in the face of a heavy storm. This storm has engulfed their boat. While tense, they hide their concerns and rely solely on Jesus to help them deal with the crisis. 

While the painting is not very dramatic. It gives many a spiritual feel. Rembrandt beautifully portrays the disciples’ emotions and feelings.

3) A First-Rate Man-of-War Driven on a Reef of Rocks, Floundering in a Gale

The 18th century was the era of famous ship paintings. However, the artists sometimes depicted popular ships in their famous ship paintings.

Unlike other artists, who concentrated on the vessel, he emphasized the ever-changing character of the seas. Its power and the strength of waves that tore apart those ships.

His 1836 painting is true to its name, showing a vessel caught in the clutches of a raging and tumultuous sea.

4) Becalmed off Halfway Rock

Most famous ship paintings show vessels engaged in naval wars or caught between strong waves on the high seas. However, few show the calm and quiet nature of the big seas.

One such work is the painting by Fitz Hugh Lane created in 1860. It beautifully captures a scene that people outside the maritime world can never experience.

It was a popular halting point for merchant vessels and supply ships. At this point, they could catch up with other boats and promote their business. While it also let the sailors to rest and rejuvenate themselves on land.

The painting shows two big ships anchored. Along with three boats moving from one point to another as if handling cargo carried in the big ships. It is currently in the National Gallery in Washington.

5) Breezing Up is a Famous Ship Painting

Winslow Homer painted A Fair Wind or Breezing Up. The famous ship painting between 1873 and 76 shows a catboat with three young lads and a man. It is one of the most famous ship paintings in the US.

Hence, a particular kind of optimism is evident in the work. Although it is not a large painting, it reflects the nature of American life back in those days. The anchor in the bow of the vessel symbolizes hope for the bright future of the newly formed United States.

6) The Home Fleet Saluting the State Barge

Jan Van de Cappelle was among the most well-known painters who aptly captured the essence of marine travel and its vivid emotions in his works.

Marine travel or seafaring gained prominence in the 16th and 17th centuries, and many seemed to make great fortunes through it. Sea voyages of exploration also modeled communities and newly emerging nation-states.

The water is calm and almost crystal-clear, reflecting the passengers’ and the vessel’s image. 

7) Seascape in the Morning

The painting was completed by Simon de Vlieger sometime around 1640-45. He was born in Rotterdam in 1601. Vlieger’s ‘Seascape in the Morning‘ describes the story of redemption after travail, which the artist portrays through the tints of the sky.

On the right of the painting, the sky is dark, and a sailor or seaman is on a damaged boat. Some vessels are waiting in the distance.

It is Morning, and the ships survived a tumultuous sea at night.

Most look at it with great optimism, as if it were a religious painting. It beautifully portrays human suffering, trials, tribulations, and the longing for heaven.

8) Dutch Men-O’-War also Other Shipping in a Calm

Willam van de Velde II was a Dutch artist . He was admired for his marine paintings, executed in the 17th century. At that time, vessels marked the height of humankind’s technological breakthroughs. Their naval fleets were an innate element of a nation’s military. 

This famous ship painting portrayed the Dutch navy’s massive fleet of naval ships, including the much-stressed and dreaded Men-O’-war vessels. 

They were well-known as floating fortresses laden with weapons that could quickly overtake enemy ships, coastal forts, settlements, and cities.

9) The Slave Ship is One of the Famous Ship Paintings

One of J.M.W Turner’s most recognized and praised works, ‘The Slave Ship,’’ is a beautiful yet deeply saddening depiction of the harsh realities of the time. The painting seems ordinary at a glance, showing a seafaring ship caught in a storm.

Such happenings were not uncommon. While cruelty is at its peak, such incidents imagined the norms of those times.

Turner was motivated by events like the Zhong Massacre. Wherein the staff of the slave ship threw 54 enslaved women. Many children from the portholes, along with numerous protestors.

10) Fishing Boats on the Beach at Saints-Maries

The stunning ‘Fishing Boats on the Beach at Saints-Maries’ is one of the numerous paintings Van Gogh made in 1888 when he traveled to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer on the Mediterranean Sea. At that time, Saintes-Maries was a fishing village colonized by less than 100 families.

He drew the boats using a reed pen. His strokes and technique emphasize the influence of Japanese prints on him.