The Kent fire, 1825

Born in Paris in 1802, Théodore Gudin joined the American Navy at the age of seventeen after a short period at the Naval Academy. On his return to France, his experience as a sailor naturally led him towards seascapes and maritime scenes.

Gudin specialised in depicting shipwrecks and naval battles, and in 1830 he became the first artist to be appointed painter to the Royal Navy. Deeply affected by the accidental drowning of his brother, Théodore Gudin, alongside the Empress Eugénie, was one of the founders in 1865 of the Central Society for the Rescue of Shipwrecked Persons. His talent and closeness to the powers that be established his reputation, and earned him a commission on French naval history for the Musée de l'Histoire de France in Versailles.

On 28 February 1825, a British East India Company ship, the Kent, carrying more than 650 people, including around a hundred women and children, encountered a violent gale in the Bay of Biscay. During the storm, a raging fire broke out on board, threatening to reach the powder magazine. The English brig Cambria, alerted by the Kent distress flag, managed to get close to the ship, but transhipment operations were complicated by the storm and the shipwreck caused many casualties.

Théodore Gudin drew his inspiration from the tragedy for this imposing canvas, which was presented at the Salon of 1828 and immediately won him huge success. The meticulous depiction of the ship in distress, the composition organised in long diagonals, the power of the raging sea and the clouds that merge with the smoke of the fire are all elements that characterise his work. The waves that capsize the ship are treated as impastos, giving them an almost transparent appearance. Finally, the large scale of the disaster scene, the impression of the distraught shipwrecked crew being crowded together, and the attention to detail given to the victims in the water, arouse intense emotion in the viewer.