🛳️ Large Historical Marine Oil Painting – "SS Great Britain" by Salvatore Colacicco | Transatlantic 6-Masted Steamship
🖼️ Subject & Medium
Impressive original marine oil painting on wood panel by the renowned Italian-British marine artist Salvatore Colacicco. The work portrays the legendary 19th-century transatlantic steamship SS Great Britain cutting through the Atlantic in full profile, her experimental six masts set and a plume of smoke streaming from a single funnel. Painted circa 1970s, the same decade the real vessel was dramatically rescued and returned to Bristol.
🎨 Composition & Technique
Colacicco captures both the power of the sea and the sophistication of Brunel’s engineering. The ocean is built up in layers of deep navy, cobalt and stormy grey, with crested waves tipped in creamy white to suggest spray and movement. Above, a shifting sky of slate blue, soft ochre and grey moves from brooding cloud to lighter patches, giving a strong sense of changing weather.
The iron hull is crisply drawn, with lifeboats, deck structures and tiny crew picked out in fine detail. Slender masts and rigging are rendered with precision, while looser, more expressive brushwork is reserved for the sea and sky. Splashes of colour in the ensigns and signal flags at the stern animate the composition and balance the darker tones of water and hull. The overall effect is dramatic, atmospheric and historically convincing.
🧭 About the Ship – SS Great Britain
Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and launched in 1843, SS Great Britain is regarded as one of the most significant ships in maritime history. She was the first large passenger vessel to combine an iron hull with screw propulsion and steam power, and at launch she was the largest ship afloat. Her 1845 maiden crossing to New York, completed in around two weeks, set new expectations for transatlantic travel.
In the 1850s and 1860s she carried thousands of emigrants on the long voyage to Australia, later serving in a variety of roles before ending her working life as a hulk in the Falkland Islands. In 1970 she was famously salvaged and towed back across the Atlantic to Bristol, where she has been restored as a museum ship and stands as a landmark of Victorian innovation. Colacicco’s depiction of the vessel under both steam and sail, with six masts, reflects her radical early configuration.
✍️ Signature
Signed lower left by Salvatore Colacicco. The reverse bears an information sheet about the artist and the SS Great Britain, together with auction and stock labels that accompany the work.
🧑🎨 The Artist – Salvatore Colacicco (b. 1935)
Colacicco was born in Bellagio, Italy, and trained at the Brera Academy in Milan before settling in England. He has built an international reputation for traditional marine paintings in the grand 19th-century manner. He was commissioned by the Russell-Cotes Museum to paint a celebrated series of twenty-six paddle steamer panels, and his work has been widely collected in the United States and Europe. Paintings by Colacicco hang in executive boardrooms and private collections worldwide, and he enjoys a strong auction record at leading international salerooms.
🪵 Frame
Housed in an ornate gilt frame with rich moulded decoration that perfectly suits the drama of the subject. The frame has been fitted with sturdy modern metal brackets and wire so the painting is ready to hang and enjoy as soon as it arrives.
📏 Dimensions (Framed)
Height: 64.5 cm
Width: 90 cm
Depth: 5.5 cm
🧾 Provenance
Formerly in a private UK collection. Notable auction house Lawrence Fine Art Auctioneers Ltd, Crewkerne & curated by Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD, the present owner. The Lawrence auction label and information sheet are retained on the reverse, providing useful documentation for future reference.
💖 Why You’ll Love It
✅ A rare and striking depiction of Brunel’s pioneering SS Great Britain in her original six-masted guise, painted with both historical accuracy and painterly flair.
✅ An impressive original work by Salvatore Colacicco, one of the best-known traditional marine painters working in Britain in the later 20th century, with museum commissions and solid auction results.
✅ A dramatic, atmospheric statement piece: powerful seas, moody sky and a heroic industrial subject that will instantly dominate a wall in a study, library, hallway, office or yacht club.
✅ Perfect for anyone with an interest in maritime history, Victorian engineering, Bristol heritage or classic marine art, and a talking point for guests as soon as they walk into the room.
✅ Ready to hang in its richly ornamented period-style gilt frame, so you can enjoy a complete presentation from the moment it arrives.
✅ Condition Report
The painting is in good, sound condition. Under raking light there are small grazes and minor scuffs to the surface, mainly in the sky and sea, consistent with age and previous handling; these are not distracting when the work is displayed. Colours remain strong and the panel is secure within the frame.
The frame shows honest age-related wear, with scuffs, scratches, small areas of gilding loss, shrinkage cracks and old repairs visible on close inspection. It remains structurally stable and provides a handsome period setting for the picture.
