John Christian Schetky (1778-1874) - HMS 'Pique's' Gig - BHC2258 - Royal Museums Greenwich

John Christian Schetky (11 August 1778 – 29 January 1874) was a Scottish marine painter.

Early life

Schetky was descended from an old Hungarian-Transylvanian family, which, for political reasons, had emigrated to Leipzig at the beginning of the 16th century. His father was Johann Georg Christoff Schetky, a celebrated composer and cellist, who had settled in Edinburgh in 1773, and had married Maria Anna Theresa Reinagle, also of Hungarian descent, in 1774. John Christian was the couple's fourth son. He was educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh, where he formed a lifelong friendship with his near-contemporary, Walter Scott.

Career

Schetky studied art under Alexander Nasmyth. After travelling on the continent, he settled in Oxford, where he taught for six years as a drawing-master. In 1808 he obtained a post in the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Royal Military College at Marlow, Buckinghamshire, Great Marlow; and three years later he was appointed professor of drawing in the Royal Naval Academy, Royal Naval College, Portsmouth, where he had ample opportunities for the study of his favourite marine subjects. Following the abolition of the Naval College, he held a similar professorship from 1836 to 1855 at the East India Company's Addiscombe Military Seminary, Military Seminary at Addiscombe, Surrey, where the cadets nicknamed him "Sepia Jack".

From 1805 to 1872 he contributed periodically to the Royal Academy summer exhibitions, and he was represented at the Palace of Westminster#Westminster Hall, Westminster Hall competition of 1847 by a large oil painting of the Battles of Barfleur and La Hougue, Battle of La Hogue. He was marine painter to George IV of the United Kingdom, George IV, William IV of the United Kingdom, William IV and Victoria of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria.

Among his published works were the illustrations to John Manners, 7th Duke of Rutland, Lord John Manners's ''Sketches and Notes of a Cruise in Scotch Waters'' (1850); and a volume entitled ''Reminiscences of the Veterans of the Sea'' (1867), which containing photographs of twenty of his paintings and drawings of the great wooden fighting vessels of the Royal Navy.

One of his best-known works, the ''Loss of the HMS Royal George (1756), Royal George'', painted in 1840, is now in Tate Britain. The United Service Club formerly possessed another important marine painting, showing HMS Endymion (1797), HMS ''Endymion'', under the command of Sir Charles Paget (Royal Navy officer), Charles Paget, rescuing a French man-of-war from extreme danger of shipwreck.

Schetky died in London on 28 January 1874.

Personal life

Schetky married Charlotte Trevenen in 1828. She died in 1867.

Biography

A memoir by his daughter, entitled ''Ninety Years of Work and Play'', was published in 1877.Schetky 1877.

References

Further reading

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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schetky, John Christian
1778 births
1874 deaths
18th-century Scottish painters
Scottish male painters
19th-century Scottish painters
Scottish landscape painters
Artists from Edinburgh
People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh
British marine artists
Scottish people of Hungarian descent
British East India Company people
19th-century Scottish male artists