Port Said

Francois Guillaume Brangwyn was born in Bruges, the son of a Welsh architect. Following his family's return to London in 1874, Brangwyn initially worked for his father copying designs and went on to copy designs and other items for William Morris in 1882. Having worked in Cornwall in 1887 (see lot 104), Brangwyn longed to travel further afield. In 1888 he joined a cargo boat bound for the Black Sea, paying the skipper for his passage with drawings and paintings. From this point onwards he made regular visits abroad; his palette became richer and his subjects more exotic.

On 9 October 1892 a critic for the Times wrote of Brangwyn's Royal Institute painting, Slave Traders: 'Mr Brangwyn, who knows the sea as only a born seaman can, has till now painted only scenes from our northern latitudes, with ships tossing on the grey waves, and sea and sky gloomy and lowering. His work has always been full of ability, but now it seems that some kind fate has taken him southwards, and shown him the sunlight blazing on the coasts of Africa; and he has painted a picture which, for glow of colour, beats anything here, anything that an Englishman has ventured upon for a long time'.

We are very grateful to Rodney Brangwyn for his assistance in preparing the catalogue entry for this and the following lots 87-88 and 104.