An attractive pair of seascape paintings depicting ships off two British harbours by John James Wilson. The distinctive ruins of Scarborough castle and the harbour lighthouse can be seen to the left of the first painting. In the second, the fortified wall of the old Portsmouth harbour is visible to the right, just above the sea line.

John James Wilson was born in Lambeth in 1818. He was the son of the famous marine artist John H. (Jock) Wilson and the brother of William A Wilson, a landscape and architectural painter. He studied under his father who undoubtedly influenced his style and over the years produced a large number of works.

He specialised in marine paintings and began exhibiting at the British Institution in 1834 and at Royal Academy from 1835 where he exhibited 55 paintings in total. He was a regular contributor at the Royal Society of British Artists with 384 works and was elected a member in 1845. He also exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy, Royal Hibernian Academy and the Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts.

He married Elizabeth Parker in 1845 and they lived in Bayswater where their first child was born. After living in Redhill for a couple of years the family moved to 13 Park Place, Milton-on-Thames near Gravesend in 1851. He spent his time travelling around England painting landscape and coastal views of England but also visited Scotland, North Wales, Holland and Brittany.

By 1856, he had made the move to Folkestone, living at 3 Westcliffe Place and began concentrating on marine scenes, particularly of the English Channel. From 1865, he lived at Belle Vue House in Folksestone where he spent the rest of his life. He died at Belle Vue House in 1875.

Examples of his work can be found at a number of museums and art galleries including the Dundee Art Gallery, Folkestone Museum, the National Maritime Museum, the Scottish National Gallery, Sheffield Museum, Watford Museum and the Wolverhampton Art Galleries.

© Benton Fine Art