File:Fo'c'sle of a Berwick Smack RMG BHC1221.tiff

A portrait of two unknown sailors set among wooden beams in the fo'c'sle of a smack. Berwick smacks were sailing vessels that carried salmon and other cargo together with passengers, to London, before the coming of the railway. They were built for sailing fast and could also fight their way out of trouble. Two smacks set out for London every week and the passenger fare was one-and-a-half guineas.

The figure on the left wears a naval style jacket, white trousers, and holds a pipe in his raised left hand. He sits on a barrel and points to a board game on a chest in front of him with his right hand. The figure on the right wears a white sweater, yellow kerchief and blue trousers. He sits on a pile of sacking or rope and leans on the chest with his right arm. He also points towards the board and looks in the direction of his fellow sailor. Counters from the game are arranged on the chest. The artist has also included a variety of still-life detail in the painting to inform the scene. There are boots hanging up, with lamps, jackets, and ropes to the right. Lockers are also visible on the right and in the foreground the keys hang in the lock of an open locker. A bowl sits on the top with coils of rope and, above, a companionway ladder leads up to the deck. On the floor of the fo'c'sle an open bottle, a jug with an open lid and gloves have been arranged, with a hatch opening ring on the left to indicate access to space below.

The atmospheric painting is bathed with light from the open hatch on the right, which both highlights details of the men and acts as a contrast with the darkness suggested on the left. The artist (1789-1872), who exhibited this painting at the British Institution in 1831, was born and died in Berwick-on-Tweed. He began life as a house decorator but began to paint coastal and landscape subjects in his spare time, and also painted portraits including two of the wood-engraver Thomas Bewick. He first exhibited at Edinburgh in 1815 and later in the major London exhibitions. In 1828 he became an honorary member of the Royal Scottish Academy but exhibited little after 1834 though he continued to paint. In 1884 his widow bequeathed four of his paintings to the National Gallery and he is also represented in the Tate, the National Portrait Gallery and Scottish NPG and the Victoria and Albert Museum, as well as north-eastern public collections.