442 - John Augustus Atkinson,

John Augustus Atkinson, British 1775-1833- The Boulogne Pilot boat setting out; pencil, pen, ink, and watercolour on paper, 26.3 x 36.6 cm. Provenance: With Martyn Gregory, London [VF 591]. Note: Atkinson travelled widely across Europe, including to St Petersburg in 1784, where his uncle James Walker (1748-1808) was engraver to Empress Catherine II (1729-1796), also known as Catherine the Great. He returned to Britain in 1801, and began to focus increasingly on naval and maritime subjects, particularly over the course of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). The present work recalls Atkinson's depictions of fishing boats in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London [2934-1876; 2935-1876]. Atkinson was elected a member of the Society of Painters in Watercolours in 1808 and exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy until his final contribution in 1829.