Crimean War: Baltic Fleet preparing to anchor. (Oswald Brierly).

by Brierly, Oswald (O.W.)

Antique print. Entrance of the Great Belt. Brierly.

A wonderful antique engraving for The Illustrated London News published in London on April 15, 1854. Engraved after a sketch by Sir Oswald Brierly (1817-1894), a marine painter trained at the art school of Henry Sass, Bloomsbury Street, London. Brierly exhibited drawings of two men-of-war, Pique and Gorgon, at the Royal Academy in 1839. He also studied naval architecture. His interest in ships led to Benjamin Boyd of the Royal Yacht Squadron inviting Brierly on the yacht Wanderer on a voyage to Australia. They arrived at Sydney in July 1842.

In New South Wales Brierly acted as manager of Boyd's pastoral and whaling business, and lived at Twofold Bay, where he was appointed a magistrate. In 1848, when Boyd's affairs were approaching bankruptcy, Brierly accepted the invitation of Captain Owen Stanley to be his guest on H.M.S. Rattlesnake on a survey of the Barrier Reef, the Louisiade Archipelago and part of the New Guinea coastline.

'The Illustrated London News' periodical was the world's first graphic newspaper. It was set up in 1842, but only became popular after the introduction of engraved illustrations of the events described.. particularly with news of wars around the world. The engraved illustrations have always been collectable.

Page size is 40 x 27cm (15.75 x 10.5 inches)