About Maritime Prints

This website is all about PRINTS of the maritime scene (mostly warships) of the era 1905 to the present day: dreadnought battleships, battle squadrons, destroyers, battle cruisers, royal yachts, fleet reviews, submarines, cruisers....

If its ORIGINALS of these that you seek then please visit our sister website www.maritimeoriginals.com.

                                                                      THE STORY BEHIND THIS COLLECTION OF OVER 300 DIFFERENT PRINTS

You are unlikely to have seen most of these pictures before as, with few exceptions, they are all from private collections. Most of the artists are very well known and respected in marine artists' circles and many of them have been commissioned and collected over the decades by important institutions Royal Houses, museums around the world, sheer enthusiasts. They are artists who knew their stuff and their subject.. Original works by these artists have an avid international following, sell well privately and seldom fail to fetch impressive sums should they appear at auction.

Under "Miscellaneous Section" you will find some paintings which although not painted by these "greats" of the maritime art world are still considered to be of sufficient merit to deserve space here.

Most of the prints offered for sale here have been made from originals that have been tracked down and dug out from private sources, although some have been found at auction. Those originals we have (usually some 50 or so) are offered for sale on our sister website, Maritime Originals (www.maritimeoriginals.com)

To enable those who don't wish to embark on the greater expense of an original , Maritime Prints was created in 1999 to bring limited edition copies of those originals to a wider audience. Even with limited edition copies though, a measure of exclusivity remains highly desirable and although one or two editions are in the low hundreds, many are limited to as few as only 12 copies worldwide or even less. Because of their provenance they can be found nowhere else and that, allied to their quality and small number, means that serious collectors are increasingly buying them.

IMPECCABLE QUALITY

But they must be more than just fine art prints – they have to be impeccable in every way if they are to act as any kind of an acceptable substitute for the original itself. The majority of these reproductions are made using the follow-on improvements from the giclee process. The remainder have been made using offset litho. Giclee has become the generic term, it seems, for any print made using a digital process, be it a top notch fine art printer or a cheap desk top one at home. Our printing, mostly done in London's West End, benefits from being undertaken by specialists in reproduction work of a high order and they are continually updating and refining their equipment and techniques. Because they have long since moved on from giclee printing they are able to use beautiful uncoated papers. These are made of more natural material, allow the inks to travel more perfectly down the length of the paper fibres and into the sheet; and have virtually unfadable characteristics as no artificial coating – the traditional enemy of colour fast dyes and inks – is used on the paper's surface. The result is a perfect, long lasting reproduction. All the prints are available at precisely the same size as the original picture -although most can be altered in size to suit your preference - and huge care has been taken during every stage of the reproduction process to ensure that they are indistinguishable from the originals.

WHAT YOU GET

There are now over 300 paintings and etchings in this collection and it is added to on a regular basis. The list of artists will remain broadly as at present and the pictures offered will also be similar in range: essentially a swathe of some 200 years (1805 to 2005), when the Royal Navy and British Merchant Fleet were at their most spectacular, most far flung, most impressive; the big racing yachts, such as the J Class and Big Class, ruled the grand sailing regattas, and international maritime events were at their zenith of lavish flamboyance. Falling at the start of this timeframe are some wonderfully rare Trafalgar/Nelsonian paintings.

Many limited edition reproductions on the market make a point of showing the embossed stamp and limited edition number of the issuer. Because, however, our prints are of such high quality as to pass for the original itself, our clients have persuaded us over the years to position the embossed proof mark and limited edition number of each print in a positioned well below the image itself so that it is masked by the front cover of the mount (or matt in US parlance). The print is not therefore obvious for what it is although we make no attempt as passing it off as a forgery! A duplicate numbered proof mark is provided on the heavy weight Provenance Card which accompanies some prints and which describes in detail the subject of the picture, the artist and the provenance of the picture. This card – some with admiral's flag or ship's crest embossed at the top - is of sufficient quality to be framed also and hung underneath the main picture. For those who do want the limited edition number to be permanently visible on the main picture a simple remount will be required.

PRINTS ON HEAVY PAPER

All watercolour originals are printed onto heavy weight paper (varying between 150 - 250 gsm); oil painting originals can also be printed on paper but are generally preferred by most to be reproduced onto fine weave canvas (see Prints on varnished canvas, below). Prints on paper can be mounted (matted) in heavy, conservation, acid free hinged mounts: some of these are double mounts, some are border wash lined mounts: the choice of what is available is huge and the picture can be mounted however you wish. When the picture reaches you it is in all respects ready for framing. For those who wish to add something of a formality to their pictures, ships' names can be added in suitably sized and styled writing into a window cut into the mount beneath the image ; and an embossed ship's crest can be set into the mount above or beneath some of the paintings if required. These crests – and admirals' flags where appropriate – are specially prepared from steel engraved dies: London Clubs, Service messes, Training Establishments often ask for these as an optional and complimentary extra. Private collectors generally prefer to have a plainer and more conventional mount but Maritime Prints will go to great lengths to have the picture mounted as you would like: you only have to ask. For those prints destined for delivery to overseas locations, the mount/matt is usually omitted as postage charges for the additional size and weight that the mount brings are generally disproportionally high: we reduce the cost to you accordingly and send the print rolled in a stout cardboard tube for you to have mounted/matted once it reaches you.

PRINTS ON VARNISHED CANVAS

All the oil painting reproductions are available on fine weave canvas; and for those who prefer, most of the oil paintings are available as prints on paper too. As with the prints on paper all canvas sizes can be varied as required: each canvas is hand varnished and finished, and stretched onto a wooden stretching skeleton so that it is ready in all respects for you just to have framed although varnished canvases can also be supplied unstretched. For those canvases destined for overseas, postage charges for stretched canvases are absurdly high so we would rather send the finished canvas rolled in a cardboard tube: we reduce the overall cost to you to compensate for the fact that you, not we, will incur the stretching cost (typically around £15 - £35 dependent on size).

PRICES

These pictures are very definitely not, therefore, mass produced prints: they are of privately owned originals and they are produced to an impeccable standard on beautiful heavy, acid free papers and fine weave canvases and to a size and with a mount style that exactly suits the client. They are priced at a fraction of the figure that the original would probably fetch at auction - if indeed it could be found. The prints, too, have a rarity because of the few limited edition copies produced and, in the case of the oil paintings reproduced on canvas, because each is hand varnished and finished – something not found elsewhere. Some prints are more expensive than others: more celebrated artists attract more expensive prices as do the smaller limited editions; and size matters too with larger generally being more expensive.

Price Bands. It is these variations of picture size and mount style that account for the fact that the pictures are not given a standard price but are priced within bands: once your precise requirements are known, an exact price from within the appropriate band can be quoted.t As of July 2022 ten percent must be added, I'm afraid, to all prices to cope with greatly increased production costs.All prices shown are for the size of image given on the website (for those on paper) and the stretcher (for those on canvas), but do not include postage. VAT is not levied. The price of your particular picture will depend on how you wish it to be sized and finished. The overall Limited Edition size refers to the maximum number of prints authorised to be produced of the original.

ORDERING

Unlike many others who sell by the web's automated shopping trolley, these reproductions are designed to be tailor made for each client: and so size, finish and, most important of all – price – are all up for discussion and negotiation. Please let Maritime Prints know (Contact Us /How to Order) as soon as you are interested in any of these pictures so that a price can be agreed and a copy reserved for you (with your limited edition number of choice if still available) before the limited edition dictates that no more can be produced. You are asked to pay either by debit card, PayPal, online bank transfer or by cheque when ordering; a receipted invoice will accompany your completed order. Prices quoted do not include packing and delivery or transit insurance: these will depend on delivery address.

 

REPRODUCTION OF FAMILY PORTRAITS etc

Its not just maritime subjects that I can reproduce so accurately: the capability is also there to work on any paintings – watercolour or oil, pencil or pastel and to alter their size to suit hanging space available. So if you have a family portrait or other painting from which you wish to make copies do please contact me: I have given many families the chance to allow children to have a copy each of a favourite picture – grandfather, lucky racehorse or smelly old family dog! We have to abide by the rules of copyright but this is not usually a stopper.

Richard Cosby
Director, Maritime Prints

CONTACT US / HOW TO ORDER

Email: [email protected]

You are asked to pay by online bank transfer,  PayPal or UK cheque.