Thomas Sewell Robins
{{Short description|British maritime painter (1810–1880)}}
{{distinguish|text=Thomas Robins (1715–1770)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
File:HMS Assistance (1850).jpg in the Ice, by Thomas Sewell Robins, 1853]]
File:TSR Bringing in the Nets - Watercolour 1861.jpg
File:TSR girl with Wool Gatherings.jpg
Thomas Sewell Robins (Devonport 8 May 1810 – 9 August 1880) was a British painter who specialised in maritime subjects. Robins studied at the Royal Academy Schools. A prolific painter, he travelled extensively in Europe, and exhibited at the Royal Academy, the British Institute, the Suffolk Street Galleries and the New Watercolour Society.National Maritime Museum 1971 Two Victorian Marine Painters - Exhibition catalogue. He worked primarily in watercolours and occasionally in oil. Robins also made some pencil drawings and watercolour sketches of people in local dress. His work is in the collection of a number of notable museums and galleries.
Early life
Born on 8 May 1810 Stoke Damerel OPC (Online Parish Clerk). in Devonport, Devon, Robins was admitted into the Royal Academy Schools on 22 April 1829 under the sponsorship of fellow Devonian James Northcote, a former pupil of Sir Joshua Reynolds. His professor of painting was Thomas Phillips and his lecturer in perspective was J. M. W. Turner. He was an early member of the New Watercolour Society and the Institute of Painters in Watercolours.Gilbert Richard Redgrave. 1905. A History of Water-Colour Painting in England. (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge), p.213.
Career
Robins travelled extensively on the Continent, visiting France in 1842, Holland and Italy in 1845, the Mediterranean c. 1850, Holland and the Rhine in 1857, France in 1858, and Antwerp in 1859.
Robins specialized in coastal marine subjects, working primarily in watercolours and on occasion in oils. He did some paintings, particularly some large scale yachting scenes in the Solent some of which were engraved by Dolby, Harris and others. His work is in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, the British Museum, the City of Portsmouth Museum, Cartwright Hall (Bradford), Howarth Museum and Gallery (Accrington), Newport Art Gallery, the Williamson Art Gallery and Museum (Birkenhead), the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, and the Muscarelle Museum of Art.{{cite web | author= | year=2015| title=Small Boats Offshore Struggling in a Gale, (watercolor on paper). | work=Curators at Work V | publisher=Muscarelle Museum of Art | url=https://proficio.campus.wm.edu/RediscoveryProficioPublicSearch/ShowItem.aspx?4202+ | accessdate=21 Jun 2018}}
One oil painting of his in the National Maritime Museum dates from 1853 and is of HMS Assistance trapped in the Arctic ice.
A more typical watercolour by Robins is "Bringing in the Nets" initialled TSR and dated 1861. He produced many similar works of varying quality. He seldom added titles except for brief phrases about location e.g. "Off Sheerness"; the titles are mostly assigned by the auction houses.
During his travels, Robins also made some pencil drawings and watercolour sketches of people in local dress. The chalk drawing above right is of a girl with wool gatherings; it is not dated.
Death
Failing health forced him to reduce his commitments in 1865–66. He died in 1880, leaving his wife, Elizabeth and daughter, Delia.
References
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External links
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Category:19th-century English painters
Category:English male painters