(Copenhagen 1818–1875)
and John William Bottomley
(Hamburg 1816–1900 Schleswig)
The Wreck of the Anglo Saxon, April 1863, signed, dated Anton Melbye (1)863 and (in ligature)
JM Bottomley, oil on canvas, 60 x 90 cm, framed

Using a dark and dramatic colour palette, the marine painter Anton Melbye and the genre painter John William Bottomley depict the most serious shipping accident on the North Atlantic to date: the sinking of the Anglo-Saxon on 27 April 1863. During the crossing from Liverpool to Quebec and Montreal, the passenger ship of the Canadian-British shipping company Allan Line, which in addition to cargo and mail had 85 crew members and 360 passengers on board, ran into a heavy fog bank. A few nautical miles north of the Newfoundland Cape Race, the ship collided with a rock and ran aground. Enormous waves pushed the Anglo-Saxon further and further onto the rocks, tearing off parts of the stern and putting the damaged ship in a precarious position. An evacuation was impossible and 238 people lost their lives in the accident.
The dangerous position of the Anglo-Saxon is made clear to the viewer in this lot by the dramatic and atmospheric lighting. Heavy dark clouds of smoke pass behind the ship in the distance and the waves rise up ominously, the horses climbing to the shore are trying to escape. The heavy dark clouds in the sky intensify the feeling of disaster.