'The German fleet in the Forth'

A charming original drawing, inscribed by Wyllie as title, at the bottom, showing four miniature warships cut out as wooden profiles, on wooden floats, in tow in line ahead on a light cord, with seabirds sketched in above. The ship profiles are not recognizable so the models are probably just toys for the artist's family (perhaps his grandchildren), sketched in a late-afternoon or summer evening light. It may be a post-war drawing with the toys re-enacting the entry of the German High Seas Fleet in the Forth for internment in 1918, and not necessarily done there specifically, although it was a place where Wyllie had enjoyed family holidays before the war. The gulls wheeling above the model ships here mirror a motif Wyllie uses elsewhere suggesting peace and nature reasserting itself after the intrusion of war: see for example PAE0057.

Object Details

ID: PAD9893
Collection: Fine art
Type: Drawing
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Wyllie, William Lionel
Date made: After 1918
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, Caird Collection
Measurements: 360 mm x 257 mm