Ahoy! - Montague Dawson

Limited edition giclee print.

Each print is hand numbered, accompanied by a certificate signed by the Master Printer and is numbered to match the print. The editions are limited to 1880 copies.

Image Size: 20 x 30 inches
Paper Size: 24 x 34 inches

A varnished print on canvas is available, please enquire.

Ahoy!’ is a marvellous painting by Montague Dawson, a prominent British nautical artist of the twentieth century. This painting is a perfect example of Dawson’s interest in depicting portraits of eighteenth and nineteenth century clipper and warships and he was influenced by his childhood which was spent surrounded by ships and the sea.
Dawson’s fascination with traditional ships led him to depict these ships and boats with an exquisite amount of detail. The sharp bows, rigged masts and billowing white sails are meticulously painted by Dawson which, along with the choppy sea and cloudy sky, are familiar characteristics in his paintings. The large clipper ship is depicted as majestic and graceful as it glides across the ocean exuding a sense of strength and power over the sea and the smaller boats which surround it.

The clipper is a ship owned by Devitt and Moore, a company that traded extensively to Australia. The scene is likely to be set South East of the Lizard, where incoming vessels picked up the channel pilot. The lugger in the foreground is a flambart, a powerful type of vessel found extensively in Normandy and Brittany, these were used for fishing, dredging and also as a pilot vessel. The cutter on the left is flying a pilot flag, indicating that she is carrying a pilot seeking a contract to take the clipper up channel. The two vessels seen to the right of the flambart are also flying pilot flags, and the lugger in the middle distance between the flambart and the clipper is in the style of a deal forepeaker that would range the whole length of the channel seeking clients.