B. F. Gribble RBC SMA (10 May 1872 - 21 February 1962) was a prolific British

British people

The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...

 marine artist and illustrator

Illustrator

An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...

.

Life and works

Gribble was born in Chelsea

Chelsea, London

Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...

 in 1872. His father Herbert A. K. Gribble ARIBA was an architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

 known for his design of the Brompton Oratory. Gribble was set to follow in his father's footsteps, but elected to become a full-time painter in oils

Oil painting

Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...

 and watercolours. He was educated at the College of St Francis Saviour, Bruges

Bruges

Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....

, Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

; South Kensington

South Kensington

South Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. It is a built-up area located 2.4 miles west south-west of Charing Cross....

 Art School

Art school

Art school is a general term for any educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. The term applies to institutions with elementary, secondary, post-secondary or undergraduate, or graduate or...

 and under Albert Toft

Albert Toft

Albert Toft was a British sculptor.Toft trained in Wedgwood's pottery and studied sculpture at the South Kensington Schools under Professor Edouard Lanteri.-Notable works:...

. He married Eleanor Mabel Clunn (Nellie). They settled in Poole

Poole

Poole is a large coastal town and seaport in the county of Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester, and Bournemouth adjoins Poole to the east. The Borough of Poole was made a unitary authority in 1997, gaining administrative independence from Dorset County Council...

, Dorset

Dorset

Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

, some time between 1915 and 1924, living at 3 Springfield Crescent, Parkstone

Parkstone

Parkstone is an area of Poole, Dorset. It is divided into 'Lower' and 'Upper' Parkstone. Upper Parkstone - "Up-on-'ill" as it used to be known in local parlance - is so-called because it is largely on higher ground slightly to the north of the lower-lying area of Lower Parkstone - "The Village" -...

. He became a member — along with Henry Lamb

Henry Lamb

Henry Taylor Lamb, MC, RA was an Australian-born British painter. A follower of Augustus John, he was a founder member of the Camden Town Group.Born in Adelaide, Australia, he was the son of Sir Horace Lamb FRS...

 and Augustus John

Augustus John

Augustus Edwin John OM, RA, was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. For a short time around 1910, he was an important exponent of Post-Impressionism in the United Kingdom....

 — of the Poole and East Dorset

East Dorset

East Dorset is a local government district in Dorset, England. Its council is based in Furzehill, near Wimborne Minster.The district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of Wimborne Minster Urban District with part of the Ringwood and Fordingbridge Rural District and the Wimborne and Cranborne...

 Art Society.

Although his work included landscapes of Poole and portraits, Gribble was best-known as a painter of historical (and often romanticised) maritime scenes. It was once suggested that he had painted "almost every historic event that took place on water, from the landing of William the Conqueror to the Scuttling of the German fleet in Scapa Flow

Scuttling of the German fleet in Scapa Flow

The scuttling of the German fleet took place at the Royal Navy's base at Scapa Flow, in Scotland, after the end of the First World War. The High Seas Fleet had been interned there under the terms of the Armistice whilst negotiations took place over the fate of the ships...

 in 1919". Spanish galleons and treasure vessels are well represented in his work, and one critic described him as a "specialist in burning ships". Others compared his paintings to the fine marine vistas of the late 19th-century seascape artist, Henry Moore

Henry Moore (painter)

Henry Moore was an English marine and landscape painter.Born in York, he was a brother of Albert Joseph Moore, and the pupil of his father, William Moore. He also studied at the York School of Design and the Royal Academy. At first an excellent animal and landscape painter, he gave himself after...

, acknowledging his skill in the accurate portrayal of costume and technical detail and his ability to convey an authentic period atmosphere.(1)

In his preparatory sketches of ships, Gribble made notes on the precise structure and names of sails, masts

Mast (sailing)

The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall, vertical, or near vertical, spar, or arrangement of spars, which supports the sails. Large ships have several masts, with the size and configuration depending on the style of ship...

 and rigging

Rigging

Rigging is the apparatus through which the force of the wind is used to propel sailboats and sailing ships forward. This includes masts, yards, sails, and cordage.-Terms and classifications:...

, He had studied the movement of water closely, and made highly technical analyses of the construction of rigging and sails to a level where it naturally informed his naval subjects. He also paid close attention to the detail of costume

Costume

The term costume can refer to wardrobe and dress in general, or to the distinctive style of dress of a particular people, class, or period. Costume may also refer to the artistic arrangement of accessories in a picture, statue, poem, or play, appropriate to the time, place, or other circumstances...

. The evident quality of Gribble's marine pictures lies in the artist's mastery of the oil painting medium adapted to a profound understanding of his chosen subject.(2)

Gribble exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy

Royal Academy

The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...

 and the Paris Salon

Paris Salon

The Salon , or rarely Paris Salon , beginning in 1725 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. Between 1748–1890 it was the greatest annual or biannual art event in the Western world...

 and his paintings were widely sought. Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...

 was one of many celebrity owners of Gribble paintings.He purchased a painting showing the arrival of American destroyers at Queenstown

Cobh

Cobh is a seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Ireland. Cobh is on the south side of Great Island in Cork Harbour. Facing the town are Spike Island and Haulbowline Island...

 in Ireland, during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. It hung in the Oval Office

Oval Office

The Oval Office, located in the West Wing of the White House, is the official office of the President of the United States.The room features three large south-facing windows behind the president's desk, and a fireplace at the north end...

 of the White House

White House

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

 when Roosevelt became United States President in 1933. The President reputedly suggested the painting's name —The Return of the Mayflower — to the artist. Roosevelt also purchased Surrender of the German Fleet to the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow. Gribble had been one of the few civilian witnesses to this event in 1918; in his capacity as Official Maritime Painter to the Shipwrights' Company. Both works are believed to have been painted in 1919.(3)

Other notable purchasers of Gribble paintings included Queen Mary

Mary of Teck

Mary of Teck was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, as the wife of King-Emperor George V....

, the German Kaiser

Kaiser

Kaiser is the German title meaning "Emperor", with Kaiserin being the female equivalent, "Empress". Like the Russian Czar it is directly derived from the Latin Emperors' title of Caesar, which in turn is derived from the personal name of a branch of the gens Julia, to which Gaius Julius Caesar,...

 and the late Jackie Onassis. The Kaiser was so impressed by his work that King George V

George V of the United Kingdom

George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....

 summoned the artist to a royal residence to meet him.
Gribble was in demand as an illustrator and his work appeared in many leading magazines, including The Illustrated London News and The Graphic

The Graphic

The Graphic was a British weekly illustrated newspaper, first published on 4 December 1869 by William Luson Thomas's company Illustrated Newspapers Limited....

, He illustrated numerous books, his work appearing even on royal postcard

Postcard

A postcard or post card is a rectangular piece of thick paper or thin cardboard intended for writing and mailing without an envelope....

s and chocolate boxe

Chocolate box art

Chocolate box art originally referred literally to decorations on chocolate boxes. Over the years the terminology has developed and is now applied broadly as a descriptive, but often pejorative, term to describe paintings and designs that are warm, idealistic and sentimental.Using his own paintings...

s.

After his death in 1962, his widow donated many of his works to Poole Museum

Poole Museum

Poole Museum is a local history museum situated on the Lower High Street in the Old Town area of Poole, Dorset, and is part of the Borough of Poole Museum Service. Entrance to Poole Museum is free.-History:...

, which now boasts the world's largest collection of Gribble paintings. The collection numbers 250 paintings, drawings, prints

Printmaking

Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Printmaking normally covers only the process of creating prints with an element of originality, rather than just being a photographic reproduction of a painting. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable...

 and photographs. Typical paintings in the Poole collection are The Plague Ship, The Whelp of the Black Rover and The Return of the Argosy Galleons, but there are also some local topographical works such as the Guildhall, the Custom House, views of the Quay and harbour, a portrait of former Mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

of Poole, Herbert Carter, in civic regalia and one of a woman believed to be his wife Nellie.

B. F. Gribble is buried with his wife in Parkstone Cemetery, Poole, Dorset. They had no children.

Official purchases

Preston Art Gallery and Museum

• 7 ft canvas, Sinking of German Fleet, Scapa Flow 1918

Bristol Museum and Art Gallery

• The Doomed Fleet

Plymouth Museum

• The Captain’s Last Landing

• No Surrender from the Pirate Captain

• Departure of the Pilgrim Fathers

Russell Coates Museum and Art Gallery

• Market St, Poole

Presented by D Elliot Alves esq to the Federal Parliament House, Australia

• Bournemouth, Our Golden Argosies (canvas)

US Navy Department for Naval Academy Annapolis

• Surrender of the German Fleet 1918

Naval College Rhode Island USA

• The Mayflower’s Return

President Roosevelt for the White House

• Two similar subjects to the above

The Royal Maritime Museum

• The Duchess of York Receiving the Freedom of the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights (4)

Work reproductions

Trafalgar Day, Oct. 21st 1805, Raphael Tuck & Sons, (1905?)

Containing three art reproductions:

• Nelson's First Prize; 'Britain! What thou wert, thou art!'

• Nelson's Victory; A Message for all Time, "England expects that every man will do his duty"

• Horatio Viscount Nelson 1758-1805 (from the original painting in the National Portrait Gallery)

Silent Might, Raphael Tuck & Sons (1914)

For those in Peril on the Sea, Messers Faulkner & Sons (4)

Sources and external links

(1) "No-one could paint the sea as well", Roger Guttridge, DorsetLife, Oct 2001

(2) Peter Davies, Art in Poole and Dorset, Poole Historical Trust. (3 Aug 1987). ISBN 0-9504914-6-2 ISBN 978095049146

(3) Paintings fit for a President, Dorset Echo Jan 20 2001 http://archive.thisisdorset.net/2001/1/20/105758.html

(4) Who’s Who in Art, The Art Trade Press, Ltd., 1962, 10th Edition

The Paintings of Bernard Finnigan Gribble http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nrg1/Bernard%20Finnegan%20Gribble.html