George Mears, English royal yacht "Victoria & Albert II"
Signed G. Mears and dated 1877. Relined canvas 49 x 91 cm.
Somewhat cracked.
George Mears (1870 – 1895) lived in Brighton and worked in Newhaven in the last part of the 19th century. He was a British ship portraitist, painting shipping scenes off the English South coast. George Mears was the official painter to the London to Brighton and South Coast Railway Company, he painted many of their cross channel Paddle and Screw Steamers sailing from Newhaven to Dieppe and other French channel ports. He occasionally painted Yachts.
HMY Victoria and Albert, a 360-foot (110 m) steamer launched on 16 January 1855, was a royal yacht of the sovereign of the United Kingdom until 1900, owned and operated by the Royal Navy.