The Illustrated Catalogue of Marine Paintings is the result of many years hard’ research on the Merseyside Maritime Museums’ collection. Each of the paintings in the collection has been critically re-examined during work on the catalogue and the history and the documentation has been checked. In addition to the correct identification of many vessels and locations, a significant number of paintings have been re-attributed. For instance, a number of previously unrecognisable works have been attributed to three unidentified artists working in Liverpool in the nineteenth century who are presently known only by pseudonyms. A further dozen paintings can be attributed to artists of the Liverpool school.

The catalogue draws attention to a number of lesser-known artists who produced interesting and important work. Examples are Max Sinclair’s In The Mersey, a marvellously evocative view of the Mersey or W F Preston’s The Liverpool Landing Stage an equally nostalgic view of that hub of activity, painted in 1893.

Several marine artists not based in Liverpool, such as Edouard Adam, Antonio Jacobson and Norman Wilkinson, are each represented by a small number of paintings. There are also some two dozen works by Chinese artists, including Kwong Sang, Lai Fong and Lai Sung, who produced ship portraits in the ports of India and the Far East.

This catalogue is a major source for the history of ship portraiture and merchant shipping in Liverpool, particularly in the nineteenth century.