Lot 131: Leonard Campbell Taylor (British, 1874-1969) Dazzle-painted ships, including Aquitania, in the Mersey off the Liverpool waterfront

Dazzle-painted ships, including Aquitania, in the Mersey off the Liverpool waterfront
signed 'L. Campbell Taylor' (lower left)
oil on canvas
58.4 x 91.4cm (23 x 36in).

This view of R.M.S. Aquitania laid up in Liverpool Docks, and other vessels steaming down the Mersey distils the essence of 'dazzle-painting' more vividly than words can describe. Conceived by the prominent marine artist Norman Wilkinson (1878-1971) whilst he was serving as a Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in 1917, the idea behind the so-called 'dazzle-painting' of ships was to confuse enemy gunners and, more particularly, submariners into miscalculating a vessel's course and speed so as to lessen its vulnerability as a target. Experimentation rapidly proved it to be a brilliant concept and it was soon adopted by the Royal Navy as well as the Merchant Marine for whom it was originally intended. Its success also brought Wilkinson to official notice to the extent that, when the Second World War began in 1939, he was appointed Inspector of Camouflage with the rank of Air Commodore.

Arguably the most successful of the great pre-1914 North Atlantic liners, as well as being widely regarded as the most handsome of all the legendary 'four-stackers', Aquitania was undeniably the longest-lived of that glamorous breed of ocean greyhounds. Conceived as a consort to Lusitania and Mauretania, Cunard ordered her from John Brown's Clydebank yards in December 1910 where she was launched on 21st April 1913. Named for the ancient Roman province in south-west France, her design was broadly similar to her two sisters although she was significantly larger in every respect. Registered upon completion at 45,647 tons gross, she measured 901 feet in length with a 97 foot beam, but was never intended to outstrip Lusitania and Mauretania in terms of speed. Clearing Liverpool for her maiden voyage to New York on 30th May 1914, she had only completed three round trips when War was declared and she found herself requisitioned for a variety of roles beginning as a troopship. Soon afterwards converted to a hospital ship, she then reverted to trooping in 1916 but was laid up at Liverpool for most of 1917 before returning to service carrying U.S. troops to France in 1918. Surviving the War only to spend the next one in similar vein, she ended her career with a one-class Southampton to Halifax (Nova Scotia) service until finally scrapped in 1950.