A Coast Scene with Warships Firing a Salute

Samuel Scott was one of a number of British artists who continued the tradition of marine painting established in the late 17th century by the Van de Veldes. He had little direct experience of seamanship and is known chiefly for his topographical views of the Thames, in which the influence of Canaletto is also apparent. This present, spirited drawing, is an early work and obviously very much in the Van de Velde style.