Sir Oswald Brierly

Sir Oswald Brierly (1817–1894), painter and adventurer, studied art, naval architecture and navigation in England before embarking with entrepreneur Benjamin Boyd on a round-the-world voyage which ended in Sydney in 1842. Afterwards, Brierly worked as the manager of Boyd’s Twofold Bay whaling enterprise for several years. In 1848 he accepted the offer of a place aboard HMS Rattlesnake on two surveying voyages that were to take in the Barrier Reef, New Guinea and the Louisiade archipelago. In 1850 he transferred to HMS Maeander, which sailed from New Zealand in June 1850 and visited Tonga, Tahiti, and the coasts of Peru, Chile and Mexico. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, publishing his account of the Maeander voyage in the Society’s journal in 1852. During the Crimean War he served as an artist-observer on ships engaged in action in the Black Sea, and supplied views of naval operations to the Illustrated London News. Queen Victoria was a major patron of Brierly’s, and he sailed alongside Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, on various voyages, including the Duke’s world tour of 1867–1868. Brierly was later appointed marine painter to the Queen and the Royal Yacht Squadron and was knighted in 1885. A contributor to the exhibitions of the Royal Academy and the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours, in later years Brierly was curator of the Painted Hall at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015