Nicholas Matthews Condy
Encyclopedia
Nicholas Matthews Condy, or Nicholas Condy the Younger (1816 – 20 May 1851) was a British maritime painter
Marine art
Marine art or maritime art is any form of figurative art that portrays or draws its main inspiration from the sea. Maritime painting is a genre that depicts ships and the sea—a genre particularly strong from the 17th to 19th centuries...

.

Birth and Education

He was born in Union Street, Plymouth
Union Street, Plymouth
Union Street in Plymouth, Devon, is a long straight street connecting the city centre to Devonport, the site of Plymouth's naval base and docks...

 in 1816 to Nicholas Condy
Nicholas Condy
Nicholas Condy [or Cundy] was an English landscape painter.Condy is supposed to have been born at Torpoint, in the then parish of Antony East, Cornwall, in 1793, but no entry of his baptism is to be found in the register kept at Antony Church...

 (1793–1857) and Ann Trevanion Condy (née Pyle; 1792–1860). His father was a painter of landscapes
Landscape art
Landscape art is a term that covers the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, and especially art where the main subject is a wide view, with its elements arranged into a coherent composition. In other works landscape backgrounds for figures can still...

, and they are often confused for each other. He went to the Mount Radford School in Exeter
Exeter
Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...

 and later studied under The Reverend C Thomas of Lew Trenchard. Intended for a career in the Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 or 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...

, he instead became a professional
Professional
A professional is a person who is paid to undertake a specialised set of tasks and to complete them for a fee. The traditional professions were doctors, lawyers, clergymen, and commissioned military officers. Today, the term is applied to estate agents, surveyors , environmental scientists,...

 marine painter.

Artistic career

His work attracted the early admiration of the Earl of Egremont
George Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont
George O'Brien Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont was a British peer. A direct descendant of Sir John Wyndham, he succeeded to his father's titles in 1763 at the age of 12, inheriting estates at Petworth, Egremont, Leconfield and land in Wiltshire and Somerset. He later inherited the lands of the Earl...

, J M W Turner’s patron. Three of his sea-pieces were exhibited 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...

 from 1842 to 1845, which gave hopes of his becoming a distinguished artist.

Death

He lived in Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...

 until his sudden and premature death at the Grove, Plymouth, on 20 May 1851 when aged only thirty-two. He left a widow
Widow
A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...

, Flora Ross, the third daughter of Major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

 John Lockhart Gallie, of the 28th Regiment
28th (North Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot
The 28th Regiment of Foot was a British infantry regiment from 1782 to 1881.For their conduct at the Battle of Alexandria in 1801 the 28th were given the unique honour of wearing a badge on both the front and rear of their head dress.. They served throughout the Peninsula War including the battles...

.

Style and artistic achievement

Condy used a detailed knowledge of ships acquired in his home town to paint accurate ship portraits, and his native Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

 countryside is featured in such paintings as Ships off Devonport and The Post Office Packet Shelldrake off Falmouth (both in 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,...

, London). He was a successful and established artist whose work is still sought after today.
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