Charles Napier Hemy Biography

Charles Napier Hemy was the most accomplished marine painter of his generation. One of his contemporaries, the distinguished artist Sir Frank Brangwyn, wrote of him: 'To me Hemy stands for the waters of England. Among the artists of the British School who have made the sea their special study his position is secure.' When Hemy was nine, he and his family sailed from his birthplace of Newcastle to Australia. This voyaging made a lasting impression on Hemy and years later he wrote "I can remember [the sea] entering my soul: it was imprinted on my mind, I never forgot it". In the second half of his life, he moved to Falmouth where he produced some of the finest oils and watercolours of traditional fishing ever seen. Like his younger friend, Henry Scott Tuke, he owned a floating studio. Hemy's first being an old seine boat named 'Vandervelde'. Hemy exhibited widely and to much acclaim; he became an associate of the Royal Academy in 1897 and was elected to become a full member in 1910. Initiated by Penlee House, this national touring exhibition brought together Hemy's major works from national and regional collections, together with rarely seen paintings and sketches from private collections.