Louis Dodd, 
British 1943-2006- 

The Blackwall frigate 'Clarence' and other shipping off Greenwich 1858; 

oil on panel, signed 'Louis Dodd' (lower right), inscribed as titled on the frame, 62 x 102 cm. ARR. 

Provenance: 
Anon. sale, Sotheby's, London, 30 May 1990, lot 219. 
Corporate Collection, UK. 

Note: 
The wood clipper 'Clarence' transported Indian labourers to West Indian destinations between 1861-65 and carried troops back to Britain from India in 1865. She was sold in 1873.

'The Blackwall frigate 'Clarence' of 1.104 tons (built by Pile at Sunderland for Green in 1858) rivalled the 'Alnwick Castle' as a fast Indian coolie ship. The 'Clarence' left Calcutta (Sand Heads) on December 20, 1861, with 450 coolies aboard, bound for Trinidad and arrived on March 5, 1862, after a run of 75 days. She reported a loss of only 6 coolies during the passage. In a winter passage of 1864-1865... the 'Clarence' was towed from Calcutta December 19, 1864, with 515 coolies aboard bound for Demerara, and made sail off the Sand Heads December 21, with a strong favourable wind. She raced for several days (January 7-11, 1865) with the 'Atlanta', which was carrying 460 Indian coolies to Trinidad, was off Cape Agulhas January 31, when 41 days from Sand Heads, and reached St Helena on February 11, when 52 days out. On this run (which has also been reported as a very fast run of 46 days), the 'Clarence' is said to have beaten a number of ships in the trade, including Green's Blackwall frigate 'Newcastle' of 1,173 tons (built by Pile at Sunderland in 1859); but the ship, at St. Helena, reported cholera raging aboard, with 46 deaths among the coolies up to that time. Continuing promptly on her passage, the 'Clarence' crossed the Atlantic equator February 26, when 67 days from Sand Heads, and reached her anchorage on March 4, 1865, after a run of 73 days, pilot to pilot.' (W.A. Fairburn, 'Merchant Sail', Vol. IV, Glasgow, 1897, p.2603). The present work shows the frigate off Greenwich in London, prior to her maiden voyage, in the year of her construction 1858. For another shipping view in Greenwich by Dodd, see Anon. sale, Bonhams, London, 5 October 2016, lot 90 (£10,000). 

Born in Hastings, Dodd attended the Hastings School of Art and the Goldsmith School of Art. He was a highly skilled draughtsman and developed his own refined method of painting, based on the techniques of the great Old Master maritime painters. Weeks or months of careful research and countless sketches preceded each painting. Working in oils on carefully prepared gessoed panels of mahogany, and later of marine ply, he began with a base painting of the sky, sea and background. Over that, using a very fine brush, he painted the detailed outlines of shipping and background buildings. Then he applied many layers of transparent glazes, allowing ample drying time between them, and this created a brilliance of colour, and illusion of light to the finished work. The end results are invariably reminiscent of the great masters of marine art.

Connoisseur Magazine wrote 'Every decade a few artists emerge to a position of greatness and prestige to make their mark indelibly and powerfully on the art of their time, and Louis Dodd is just such an artist. He is possibly the most historically gifted artist to come into the marine field in the last 100 years'. He has the distinction of winning the Schaefer Award, the highest given in the field of marine art, three times, and is the first contemporary artist to be listed in the 'Dictionary of Maritime Painters'.