H.M.S. Terror, Caught in the Ice (after Admiral Wm. Smyth)
Acrylic on canvas panel
16” x 20”
2009

If you search the internet for the wonderful painting by Admiral William Smyth (British, 1800–1877), entitled Perilous Position of HMS Terror, Captain Back, in the Arctic Regions in the Summer of 1837, you’ll find the genesis of this work. Not only is his painting dramatic and beautifully executed, but it was painted from Smyth’s memory because he was there. If you remember your history of early arctic exploration, you’ll know that Lord Franklin’s ill-fated expedition of 1845 also sailed in H.M.S. Terror, in company with H.M.S. Erebus, to the same regions. Famously and mysteriously, not a man ever returned. Although I can’t paint in Smyth’s Romantic style, this is my more expressionistic homage.