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©
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
English Anonymous Artist

Model of a Ship, Bow View

ca. 1740
Oil on canvas.
62 x 56 cm
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Inv. no.
15
(
1984.23
)
Not on display
  • Level 2 Permanent Collection
  • Level 1 Permanent Collection
  • Level 0 Carmen Thyssen Collection and Temporary exhibition rooms
  • Level -1 Temporary exhibition rooms, Conference room and EducaThyssen workshop
Level 2
Permanent Collection
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 14 13 15 16 17 18 22 19 20 21 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Recommended start of the visitClassical rooms
1 14th Century. Early Italian Painting 2 15th Century. German and Spanish Painting 3 15th Century. Early Netherlandish Painting 4 15th Century. Italian Painting 5 15th and 16th Centuries. Renaissance Portraiture 6 16th Century. Villahermosa Gallery 7 16th Century. Italian Painting 8 15th and 16th Centuries. German Painting 9 15th and 16th Centuries. German Painting 10 16th Century. Netherlandish Painting 11 Tiziano, Tintoretto, Bassano and  El Greco 12 17th Century. Caravaggio and Baroque Painting 13 17th Century. Italian, French and Spanish Painting 14 17th Century. Italian, French and Spanish Painting 15 17th Century. Italian, French and Spanish Painting 16 18th Century. Italian Painting 17 18th Century. Italian Painting 18 18th Century. Italian Painting 19 Classical rooms 20 Classical rooms 21 Classical rooms 22 18th Century. Italian Painting 23 17th Century. Dutch Painting. Landscape 24 18th Century. French and English Painting 25 17th Century. Dutch Painting. Scenes of Daily Life and Interiors 26 17th Century. Dutch Painting. Landscape 27 17th Century. Dutch Painting. Portrait 28 17th Century. Dutch Painting. Landscape 29 19th Century. European Painting. Goya and Romanticism  
Level 1
Permanent Collection
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30 18th and 19th Centuries. Transatlantic Relations 31 19th Century. American Landscape and Environmental Awareness 32 19th Century. American Landscape and Urban Life 33 Recovering the ligth. Restoration of Waterloo Bridge, by André Derain 34 20th Century. Expressionist Landscapes 35 20th Century. Expressionist Portraits 36 20th Century. The Language of the Body 37 20th Century. Urban unrest 38 20th Century. Flowers 39 20th Century. Pioneers of abstraction 40 20th Century. Popular flavor 41 20th Century. The Cubist Tradition I 42 20th Century. The Cubist Tradition II 43 20th Century. Abstract Utopias 44 20th Century. Dada and Surrealism 45 20th Century. Interwar Realisms 46 20th Century. American Abstraction I 48 20th Century. Post-ward American Art 49 20th Century. Post-ward European Figurative Art 50 20th Century. Informalisms 51 20th Century. Homo Ludens 52 20th Century. Pop Art 53 Postpop rooms 54 Postpop rooms 55 Postpop rooms 56 Postpop rooms Rodin Exhibition room
Level 0
Carmen Thyssen Collection and Temporary exhibition rooms
A B C D E F G H I J Hall Temporary exhibition rooms Access to Permanent Collection Entrance Access to Carmen Thyssen Collection Paseo del Prado Garden
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Level -1
Temporary exhibition rooms, Conference room and EducaThyssen workshop
Temporary exhibition rooms Conference room EducaThyssen Workshop
This interesting pair of canvases depicts the model of a ship seen from the stern and bow. The two paintings were acquired from Mallett and Son on the London art market in 1984, the only information available on their history known to date.

Such paintings of ship models were part of the construction process of a vessel. These rigorous, technical images were evaluated by the naval authorities and their decision determined whether the vessel would be built. Models and paintings of models allowed experts to detect defects or decide on improvements and also obliged shipbuilders to use the materials specified in the project and to build the vessel as shown. The result was to avoid fraud and modifications to the structure that might make the ship weak and unsafe. From 1649 in Britain it was specified that models had to be made for all ships prior to their construction and be approved by the Admiralty. These models were known in their time as “Admiralty models” while in Spain they were termed “construction or shipyard models”.

As can be seen in the present examples, the model shows part of the hull and its woodwork. This allowed for an examination of details such as the keel, timbers, stem and stern-post and other elements below the water level. Also left visible are part of the decks in which the construction and the interior accommodation could be checked. Such details allowed the relevant authorities to check the resistance and strength of the hull, the ship’s navigability in manoeuvres and its behaviour in combat, all with the intention of ensuring its seaworthiness and performance in order to avoid defects that would prevent it from carrying out its intended function.

These two technical paintings have dark backgrounds, against which the bright colours of the different parts of the vessel stand out clearly. The model stands on thick plinths on metal stands that allow it to be correctly supported and seen from all sides. The ship has two bridges and sixty-four cannons. The canvas depicting the bow from the starboard allows for an examination of elements such as the stem, keel and timbers, as well as the screen with a door that leads into the accommodation. The figurehead is a lion rampant, which was frequently used by the British Navy at this date. Running along the sides of the ship are two lines of potholes painted in red for the cannons. The view of the rounded stern is less well depicted with regard to its perspective, but offers details of the timbers, transom, rudder-post and rudder. Two red portholes frame the rudder and open into the rudder-hole. Above this area is the double gallery of the stern with a line of closed, glazed windows and above it an open, inset one. This more elaborate part of the vessel housed the quarters of the commander and officers and is adorned at the top by a line of carved cresting. Among the decorative motifs are carved drapes of curtains and military trophies that stand out in ochre against the blue background.

These two canvases are a good example of paintings of ship models produced prior to their construction, in this case of ships of the Dublin type.

Mar Borobia
18th Centurys. XVIII - Pintura británicaPaintingOilcanvas
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English Anonymous Artist
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Model of a Ship, Stern View
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Model of a Ship, Bow View. Modelo de un barco, visto de popa, c. 1740
Model of a Ship, Bow View
English Anonymous Artist

©

Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

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Commercial use
Model of a Ship, Bow View. Modelo de un barco, visto de popa, c. 1740
Model of a Ship, Bow View
English Anonymous Artist

©

Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

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