John Thomas Serres

John Thomas Serres (December 1759 – 28 December 1825) was an English maritime painter who enjoyed significant success, including exhibiting extensively at the Royal Academy, and was for a time Maritime Painter to King George III.

Life
The Blowing up of the French Commander's Ship "L'Orient" at the Battle of the Nile, 1798

John Thomas Serres was born in London in December 1759 to Dominic Serres, a prominent painter and a founder of the Royal Academy. Instructed by his father, John was involved in the publication of the maritime painter's guide Liber Nauticus and the younger Serres had soon developed a successful independent painting career, the Royal Academy and British Institution exhibiting over 100 of his paintings over his lifetime. He also became Master of Drawing at the Royal Naval College in Chelsea and in 1793 was made Marine Painter to the King after his father's death.[1]

Serres' successful career was badly damaged in the early 19th century by the activities of his wife Olivia Serres, who came to believe that she was the illegitimate daughter of the Duke of Cumberland and publicly pressed her "claim" to his estate, insisting on being addressed as "Princess Olive of Cumberland". Consequently, out of favour at court, Serres was forced to attempt to recoup his losses by investing in the theatre, setting up the Royal Coburg Theatre in 1818 that eventually became known as the "Old Vic". However his wife's activities again ruined him and he died in December 1825 in a London debtors' prison.[1]

His daughter Lavinia Ryves spent most of her life continuing to unsuccessfully press her mother's "claim" on the estate of King George III, even managing to take it to the House of Lords.

Notes
  1. "Biography of John Thomas Serres (1759–1825)". Maritime Art Greenwich. National Maritime Museum. Archived from the original on 14 October 2003. Retrieved 17 January 2010.

References

Further reading
  • Hargraves, Matthew. Great British watercolors: from the Paul Mellon collection at the Yale (Yale University Press, 2007) p. 32 ff.

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