RMS Titanic & Olympic Moonlight Oil Painting by Andrew Grant Kurtis
Andrew Grant Kurtis (British, 20th/21st Century)
Ships That Pass in the Night
RMS Titanic Under Moonlight with a Distant White Star Line Liner
Highlights
• Large original maritime oil painting by Andrew Grant Kurtis.
• Signed “A. Grant Kurtis” at the lower left.
• Titanic depicted intact and underway on a moonlit Atlantic.
• Distant liner traditionally identified as RMS Olympic.
• Late-20th-century traditional realist marine painting.
• Accomplished nocturne effects with silver light reflected across dark water.
• Reverse label preserves the title Ships That Pass in the Night.
• Additional theatrical-association label for Renegades Theatre, Ilford.
• Substantial ornate giltwood frame with commanding wall presence.
• Provenance from a private Wiltshire collection.
• Privately exhibited in Moonlit Giants: Titanic and the Great Ocean Liners.
Introduction
RMS Titanic advances across a calm Atlantic beneath an expansive moon in this monumental maritime nocturne by British artist Andrew Grant Kurtis.
Small points of deck illumination define the great liner against the darkness, while silvery moonlight travels across the water towards the foreground. A second White Star Line vessel rests upon the distant horizon, traditionally identified as Titanic’s sister ship, RMS Olympic.
Entitled Ships That Pass in the Night, the painting is a work of atmosphere, memory and imaginative historical reflection. Kurtis does not depict the collision or sinking. Instead, Titanic appears intact, illuminated and monumental—an image of Edwardian aspiration viewed through the knowledge of later history.
Catalogue Details
Artist: Andrew Grant Kurtis
Nationality: British
Period: Late 20th century
Title: Ships That Pass in the Night
Medium: Oil on canvas
Principal subject: RMS Titanic
Distant vessel: Traditionally identified as RMS Olympic
Genre: Marine painting and nocturne
Style: Contemporary traditional realism
Signature: “A. Grant Kurtis” lower left
Reverse label: “Ships That Pass in the Night (Renegades Theatre) Ilford”
Inventory marks: White chalk markings including “523”
Frame: Heavy giltwood frame with applied rococo-style decoration
Catalogue Note
The composition is governed by carefully controlled relationships between scale, illumination and distance.
Titanic occupies the principal horizontal plane, her hull and superstructure rendered with sufficient clarity to establish weight and architectural presence. The four funnels provide a distinctive rhythm against the sky.
Points of warm deck light contrast with the otherwise cool palette. These small illuminated details suggest the human life within the ship while reinforcing her immense scale.
The moon is positioned high behind passages of broken cloud. Its light spreads downwards across the water, creating a visual path linking the upper sky with the foreground.
Kurtis’s sea is restrained rather than turbulent. Layered blue-black paint is animated by horizontal strokes of silver and muted white, creating the appearance of reflected light moving across calm water.
The distant liner is deliberately softened and reduced. Traditionally identified as Olympic, it functions compositionally as a quiet counterpart to Titanic—a second great ship occupying the same ocean but separated by haze and distance.
Because the liner is small and atmospheric, its precise identity cannot be established visually. The Olympic identification is retained as a traditional interpretation rather than presented as an independently verified fact.
Titanic And Historical Memory
Titanic was built at Harland & Wolff in Belfast for the White Star Line and entered service in April 1912.
She belonged to the Olympic class, a group of three large liners comprising Olympic, Titanic and Britannic. These vessels reflected White Star’s emphasis upon scale, comfort and prestigious North Atlantic travel.
Titanic left Southampton on 10 April 1912 for her maiden voyage to New York. Late on 14 April she struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank during the early hours of 15 April.
More than 1,500 passengers and crew lost their lives. The scale of the disaster led to official inquiries and contributed directly to international reforms in maritime safety.
Titanic’s cultural significance has extended far beyond the immediate event. Her story has been interpreted through memorials, museums, books, paintings, documentaries and films, creating one of the most enduring narratives in maritime history.
An Imagined Moonlit Passage
The full moon is an artistic invention and should not be interpreted as a reconstruction of the night Titanic sank.
Historical and scientific accounts establish that the collision occurred during a clear but moonless night. The sea was exceptionally calm, making ice more difficult to distinguish against the horizon.
Kurtis instead employs moonlight as a symbolic and compositional device. It illuminates the vessel, structures the water and introduces an elegiac atmosphere of stillness, distance and fate.
The absence of an iceberg or visible distress further confirms that the work is not intended as a disaster illustration. It presents Titanic during an imagined nocturnal passage, allowing the ship to be contemplated before tragedy overtakes the narrative.
RMS Olympic
RMS Olympic was the first of the three Olympic-class liners and entered transatlantic service in 1911.
Her appearance was closely related to Titanic, although differences existed in their enclosed promenade areas and other details. From the distance represented in this painting, those distinctions cannot be assessed reliably.
Olympic experienced a long and varied career. She served as a troopship during the First World War before returning to passenger service and remaining operational until the 1930s.
Her proposed inclusion introduces a contrast between the sisters: Olympic’s long working career and Titanic’s single voyage. This gives the distant ship a symbolic role even if its precise identity cannot be proven.
The Artist
Andrew Grant Kurtis is a contemporary British painter born in London.
Gallery biographies record his studies at London Technical College and the Central School of Art and Design. He completed a Bachelor of Design degree with honours and subsequently received a Master of Arts degree in 1977.
His practice encompasses landscapes, cityscapes, river scenes and nocturnes. Many of his paintings are distinguished by reflected light, cinematic atmosphere and a fusion of traditional composition with contemporary technique.
Ships That Pass in the Night represents an unusually large and ambitious application of these qualities. The scale of the canvas permits Kurtis to explore expansive darkness while maintaining delicate points of light across the ship and water.
Some secondary market references give the artist’s birth year as 1950, although this has not been independently verified from an authoritative biographical record. He is consequently catalogued here as British, 20th/21st century.
Signature And Labels
Signed lower left:
“A. Grant Kurtis”
A handwritten label on the reverse records:
“Ships That Pass in the Night (Renegades Theatre) Ilford”
The reverse framing members also carry white chalk notations, including the number “523”.
The label confirms the established title and records an association with Renegades Theatre in Ilford. It does not, by itself, explain whether the painting was used for a theatrical production, displayed at the theatre, stored there or handled by the company.
Provenance And Exhibition History
Commissioned directly from Andrew Grant Kurtis, according to supplied provenance
Private collection, Wiltshire
Associated with Renegades Theatre, Ilford, according to the reverse label
Subsequently sold through an auction house in southern England, according to supplied provenance
Acquired by Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD
Privately loaned & exhibited at the Famous Lord Hill Museum, January 2026
Exhibition: Moonlit Giants: Titanic and the Great Ocean Liners
The commission and auction history have been supplied with the painting but have not been fully established through independently accessible documentary records.
Dimensions
Overall framed size: 120.7 cm wide × 100.5 cm high
Depth: approximately 10.5 cm
The large proportions make this an imposing statement painting suitable for a substantial reception room, library, executive interior or specialist maritime collection.
Framing
Presented in a deep and substantial giltwood frame decorated with applied rococo-style ornament.
The carved and moulded profile gives the painting an architectural presence, while the warm gold finish intensifies the contrast with Kurtis’s cool nocturnal palette.
The frame has received repairs and recent decorative overpainting. These interventions improve its general display appearance but mean that the gilded finish is not entirely original or untouched.
Condition Report
The painting is in good overall decorative condition and remains visually impressive under normal display lighting.
No significant damage to the visible canvas has been reported. A comprehensive conservation assessment, ultraviolet examination or technical analysis has not been undertaken during the current cataloguing.
The heavy gilt frame displays evidence of previous repairs, together with chips, losses and localised cracking.
Areas of the frame have been recently overpainted to improve visual consistency. This restorative work remains part of the frame’s present condition and should be considered when assessing originality.
Labels, chalk inventory numbers and handling marks remain visible on the reverse.
Photographs form part of the condition report. Further detailed images can be provided upon request.
Shipping
Professional worldwide shipping is available.
Due to the considerable dimensions and weight of the frame, specialist packing and insured transportation will be required.
Please contact us for additional photographs, further information or a delivery quotation for your location.
Attribution And Research Notice
The subject identifications, dating, provenance and interpretative commentary contained within this catalogue entry represent the professional, non-guaranteed opinion of Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD®. They have been prepared in good faith through examination of the painting, visible signature, reverse labels, supplied provenance, comparative research, published maritime sources and professional experience within the international fine art market.
The principal vessel is identified as Titanic through its established title and iconography. The distant ship’s identification as Olympic remains traditional and has not been confirmed by a documented statement from the artist. The work is an imaginative nocturne rather than a literal record of Titanic’s final night. The full moon and appearance of the second liner should therefore be understood as artistic and symbolic elements. Future documentary evidence or specialist examination may refine or alter the present catalogue interpretation.
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Specialising in carefully curated British and European fine art, antiques and historic works of art. Every artwork is professionally researched and catalogued using comparative scholarship, published reference material and more than two decades of experience within the international fine art market. We are committed to offering collectors works of artistic and historical merit accompanied by transparent provenance research, detailed catalogue descriptions and professional, client-focused service.
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