Thomas Luny

1759 - 1837

Neoclassicism, Classicism

Thomas Luny Biography

Thomas Luny was the son of Thomas Luny and his wife Elizabeth Wallace. He was probably born in Cornwall and was baptised at St Ewe near Mevagissey on 20th May 1759. His mother had a son from a previous marriage, Captain James Wallace (1754-1832), who fought with Nelson at Copenhagen in 1801. By 1773 Luny was apprenticed to the marine painter Francis Holman (1729-1784), giving Holman’s address at Johnson Street, St George’s when he sent his first exhibit to the Society of Artists in 1777. In 1781/82 he moved to Ratcliffe Highway, Stepney. Luny exhibited at the Society of Artists again in 1778, at the Free Society in 1783 and sent pictures to the Royal Academy from 1780 to 1793. He painted London views, portraits of East Indiamen and battle scenes.