The Story of the Ship is a story of life cycles. In this circa 1924 series by Harry Neyland, the artist uses 5 small oil on panel paintings to illustrate the creation, life, and demise of this vessel. But there are two life cycles directly associated with this series.

On ‘Talk Like A Pirate’ day in September 2019, we posted a message on Twitter showing a watercolor portrait of an ornately dressed man named “Marmalakè.”

This week, while trying to identify prints in our collection that showed dghasa, a beautiful little craft native to Malta, I stumbled across a really interesting watercolor painted by Nicolas Cammillieri. The artwork is titled “H.M. Sloop Parthian Capturing a Spanish Pirate.” The computer record didn’t contain any information about the event depicted but I figured there must be an interesting story behind the artwork–and I was right!

A little over 20 years after its last major treatment, Conquering the Wild was due for a day at the spa.

Much like the way these men work together towards a common goal, color, light, composition, and subject matter work together to create an overall harmonious feeling in the work. This feeling is one of unity, a core principle in art.

A few weeks ago, on a late summer boat ride on the James River, I noticed the outlines of looming grey ships in the distance that I hadn’t seen before. “What are those?” I wondered aloud.

During my time at Mariners’ I have frequently been intrigued by an odd looking object in one of our storage areas but time wasn’t always available to learn more about it. That recently changed for one object when I spent several months researching the history behind a piece that has always intrigued me—a large, bent, barbed, piece of iron–the spear of a chevaux-de-frise.

“Hidden Histories” is a Museum project designed to give names, agency, and interpretation of unidentified African Americans in our Collections through genealogical research and community engagement.