The Battle of Cape St Vincent, 14 February 1797 RMG BHC0486

Robert Cleveley (1747,

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home to Deptford Dock ...

– 28 September 1809, Dover) was an English maritime painter. His father and twin brother (

John Cleveley the Elder John Cleveley the Elder (c.1712 – 21 May 1777) was an English marine artist. Life Cleveley was born in Southwark. He was not from an artistic background, and his father intended him to follow the family trade of joinery, so he set up ...

, c.1712–1777, and

John Cleveley the Younger John Cleveley the Younger (24 December 1747 – 25 June 1786) was a British artist and marine painter. Life and work Cleveley was the son of John Cleveley the Elder. He and his twin brother Robert were both, like their father, marine painter ...

, 1747–1786) were also artists, with John the Younger (and possibly Robert too, to judge from his style) gaining some training in

watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

s from

Paul Sandby Paul Sandby (1731 – 7 November 1809) was an English map-maker turned landscape painter in watercolours, who, along with his older brother Thomas, became one of the founding members of the Royal Academy in 1768. Life and work Sandby was ...

, previously a teacher at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. John the Elder had tried and failed to make a living in working in a dockyard, and so did Robert, as a caulker. However, mocked by other dockyard workers for wearing gloves whilst working, John did not enjoy his time there, giving it up and in 1770 volunteering for the

navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

as a clerk. His first service as a clerk was briefly under Captain

William Locker William Locker (16 February 1866 – 15 August 1952) was an English footballer and cricketer. He played first-class cricket for Derbyshire between 1894 and 1903 and football for Stoke, Derby County and Notts County. He was one of nineteen spo ...

(who acted as patron to artists probably known to John the Elder), then soon afterwards under Captain George Vandeput on his voyage in the ''Asia'' to the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, during which time Vandeput became a lifelong friend. The ''Asia'' returned in 1777, and from then to the end of his life Robert followed a double career as

purser A purser is the person on a ship principally responsible for the handling of money on board. On modern merchant ships, the purser is the officer responsible for all administration (including the ship's cargo and passenger manifests) and supply. ...

on board various ships stationed in the Home Fleet (though most probably exercising his functions through a deputy for some or all of the time) and as a

marine painter Marine art or maritime art is a form of figurative art (that is, painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture) that portrays or draws its main inspiration from the sea. Maritime painting is a genre that depicts ships and the sea—a genre part ...

. This meant he could exhibit his works as "Robert Cleveley of the Royal Navy". First exhibiting at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

in 1780, his specialism was naval battles (though he also produced pictures of royal naval occasions, such as his "View of the Fleet at

Spithead Spithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds except those from the southeast. It receives its name from the Spit, a sandbank stretching south from the Hampshire ...

Saluting

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

at his

Review A review is an evaluation of a publication, product, service, or company or a critical take on current affairs in literature, politics or culture. In addition to a critical evaluation, the review's author may assign the work a rating to indi ...

in 1793", now at the

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unite ...

) and many of his works were reproduced as engravings. Like his brother John, he also exploited their brother James' presence as a carpenter on

Captain Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

's third voyage to gain access to art produced on the voyage and to produce art to cash in on the popular demand for South Sea images (e.g. a 1789 print of ''A view of Botany Bay''). He did, however, still make occasional voyages with Vandeput, such as when he served as ‘assistant to the clerk of the kitchen’ in the royal entourage when the royal yacht ''Princess Augusta'' (under Vandeput) took

Prince William Henry Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, (25 November 1743 – 25 August 1805), was a grandson of King George II and a younger brother of George III of the United Kingdom. Life Youth Prince William Henry was born at Leicester ...

, later

Duke of Clarence Duke of Clarence is a substantive title which has been traditionally awarded to junior members of the British Royal Family. All three creations were in the Peerage of England. The title was first granted to Lionel of Antwerp, the second son ...

, to

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

in July and August 1783. This moving in royal circles later brought him an appointment as Marine Draughtsman, first to the Duke of Clarence and then to the

Prince Regent A prince regent or princess regent is a prince or princess who, due to their position in the line of succession, rules a monarchy as regent in the stead of a monarch regnant, e.g., as a result of the sovereign's incapacity (minority or illness ...

. He died in 1809 in Dover after accidentally falling down a cliff.

Gallery

File:Destruction of French fleet off the Nile.jpg, ''Destruction of French fleet off the Nile'' (1798) in the collection at The

Mariners' Museum The Mariners' Museum and Park is located in Newport News, Virginia, United States. Designated as America’s ''National Maritime Museum'' by Congress, it is one of the largest maritime museums in North America. The Mariners' Museum Library, cont ...

File:A view of Botany Bay robert cleveley.jpg, ''A view of Botany Bay'' (1789) in the collection at The

File:View in Port Jackson Robert Cleveley.jpg, ''View in Port Jackson'' (1789) in the collection at The

External links

Biography and works
(National Maritime Museum, London)
Dictionary of National Biography entry

The Mariners' Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleveley, Robert 1747 births 1809 deaths 18th-century English painters English male painters 19th-century English painters English watercolourists British marine artists People from Deptford 19th-century English male artists 18th-century English male artists

Gallery

Further reading

External links