Robert Cleveley was an English maritime painter.

His father and twin brother (John Cleveley the Elder

John Cleveley the Elder

John Cleveley the Elder was an English marine artist. Not from an artistic background, Cleveley's father intended him to follow the family trade of joinery, and so he set up as a carpenter or shipwright in around 1742 at the Deptford Dockyard...

, c.1712–1777, and John Cleveley the Younger

John Cleveley the Younger

John Cleveley the Younger was the son of John Cleveley the Elder. He and his twin brother Robert were both, like their father, marine painters...

, 1747–1786) were also artists, with John the Younger (and possibly Robert too, to judge from his style) gaining some training in watercolours from Paul Sandby

Paul Sandby

Paul Sandby was an English map-maker turned landscape painter in watercolours, who, along with his older brother Thomas, became one of the founding members of the Royal Academy in 1768.-Life and work:...

, previously a teacher at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.

John the Elder had tried and failed to make a living in working in a dockyard, and so did Robert, as a caulker. However, mocked by other dockyard workers for wearing gloves whilst working, John did not enjoy his time there, giving it up and in 1770 volunteering for the navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 as a clerk. His first service as a clerk was briefly under Captain William Locker

William Locker (Royal Navy)

William Locker was an officer in the Royal Navy, who served with distinction during the eighteenth century. He rose to the rank of captain and held the posts of flag captain and commodore.-Family and early years:...

 (who acted as patron to artists probably known to John the Elder), then soon afterwards under Captain George Vandeput

George Vandeput

Admiral George Vandeput was an English naval officer, the illegitimate son of Sir George Vandeput, 2nd Baronet and an unknown mother.-Naval career:...

 on his voyage in the Asia

HMS Asia (1764)

HMS Asia was a 64-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 3 March 1764 at Portsmouth Dockyard. She participated in the American Revolutionary War and the capture of Martinique in 1794....

 to the West Indies and North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, during which time Vandeput became a lifelong friend. The Asia returned in 1777, and from then to the end of his life Robert followed a double career as purser

Purser

The purser joined the warrant officer ranks of the Royal Navy in the early fourteenth century and existed as a Naval rank until 1852. The development of the warrant officer system began in 1040 when five English ports began furnishing warships to King Edward the Confessor in exchange for certain...

 on board various ships stationed in the Home Fleet (though most probably exercising his functions through a deputy for some or all of the time) and as a marine painter. This meant he could exhibit his works as "Robert Cleveley of the Royal Navy".

First exhibiting 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...

 in 1780, his specialism was naval battles (though he also produced pictures of royal naval occasions, such as his "View of the Fleet at Spithead

Spithead

Spithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds, except those from the southeast...

 Saluting George III at his Review in 1793", now at the National Maritime Museum

National Maritime Museum

The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England is the leading maritime museum of the United Kingdom and may be the largest museum of its kind in the world. The historic buildings forming part of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site, it also incorporates the Royal Observatory, Greenwich,...

) and many of his works were reproduced as engravings. Like his brother John, he also exploited their brother James' presence as a carpenter on Captain Cook's third voyage to gain access to art produced on the voyage and to produce art to cash in on the popular demand for South Sea images (e.g. a 1789 print of A view of Botany Bay).

He did, however, still make occasional voyages with Vandeput, such as when he served as ‘assistant to the clerk of the kitchen’ in the royal entourage when the royal yacht

Royal Yacht

A royal yacht is a ship used by a monarch or a royal family. If the monarch is an emperor the proper term is imperial yacht. Most of them are financed by the government of the country of which the monarch is head...

 Princess Augusta (under Vandeput) took Prince William Henry

William IV of the United Kingdom

William IV was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death...

, later Duke of Clarence

Duke of Clarence

Duke of Clarence is a title which has been traditionally awarded to junior members of the English and British Royal families. The first three creations were in the Peerage of England, the fourth in the Peerage of Great Britain, and the fifth in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.The title was first...

, to Hanover

Hanover

Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...

 in July and August 1783. This moving in royal circles later brought him an appointment as Marine Draughtsman, first to the Duke of Clarence and then to the Prince Regent. He died in 1809 in Dover after accidentally falling down a cliff.

Further reading

• Lee, Sidney (Ed). Dictionary of national biography , volume 11 (1887) pp. 53 –54.

External links

• Biography and works (National Maritime Museum, London)
• Dictionary of National Biography entry
• "The Cleveley Family", at Portcities