Watercolour of the clipper ship Thermopylae by J E Cooper 1886

AssociatedAssociated with THERMOPYLAE (clipper ship, 1868 - 1907)

AssociatedAssociated with Aberdeen White Star Line (George Thompson & Co)

Artist J E Cooper

Date1886

Object NamePainting

Mediumwatercolour on paper

ClassificationsPaintings And Drawings

DimensionsFramed 34cm wide x 28.5cm high
painting approx. 24cm wide x 19cm high unframed

AcquisitionPurchased in 2011.

LocationOn Display - Aberdeen Maritime Museum

Object numberABDAG013293

About MeFor a vessel as famous as Thermopylae, this is one of very few contemporary paintings of it. Painted some 20 years after its launch it shows Thermopylae still as a fully rigged ship and in its Aberdeen Line livery.
By 1886 the heydays of the clipper ships were no more. The great 'tea and wool races' were a thing of the past. Steam vessels now replaced sailing ships on many routes.
Within 4 years of this painting, Thermopylae had been sold, its rig changed, and it was put to work transporting rice to Canada.

J E Cooper depicted many of the great sailing ships of the 19th century, including Thermopylae's great 'rival' the Cutty Sark now in the Royal Museum Greenwich.