T. J. Somerscales
Painting of the hills above Valparaíso looking across the bay towards distant mountains in evening light
1842 · Hull  |  1927 · Hull

Thomas Jacques Somerscales

The Hull schoolmaster who went to sea, settled in Chile, and became celebrated there as a painter of the sea.

Valparaíso, 1897
His life

From the Humber to the Pacific

Thomas Jacques Somerscales was born in Kingston upon Hull on 29 October 1842, the son of a master mariner. He had no formal training as an artist. At fourteen he began training as a teacher at Cheltenham, and in 1863 he joined the Royal Navy as a schoolmaster to midshipmen, sketching and painting in his spare hours.

Service in the Pacific took him to Tahiti and Hawaii. In July 1869 he was put ashore at Valparaíso with a severe fever, left the Navy, and stayed. Chile became his home for more than twenty years, and the place that made his name.

  1. 1842Born in Kingston upon Hull.
  2. 1863Joins the Royal Navy as a naval schoolmaster and serves in the Pacific.
  3. 1869Landed sick at Valparaíso; leaves the Navy and settles in Chile, teaching at the Escuela de Artesanos and later The Mackay School.
  4. 1872Wins a silver medal for his landscapes at the National Exhibition in Santiago.
  5. 1879The War of the Pacific begins. His paintings of the naval actions, including Arturo Prat boarding the Huáscar, become national images in Chile.
  6. 1892Sells his house in Valparaíso and returns to England, arriving almost unknown at the age of fifty.
  7. 1893Begins exhibiting at the Royal Academy in London.
  8. 1899Off Valparaiso is shown at the Royal Academy and bought through the Chantrey Bequest for the nation. It now belongs to Tate.
  9. 1915After years of voyages between the two countries, settles for good in Hull.
  10. 1927Dies in Hull on 27 June, aged 84.
Painting of sailing vessels and shipping off Victoria Pier in Hull
Shipping off Victoria Pier, Hull, 1894. Painted soon after his return to England.
His work

A painter of two worlds

In Chile

Somerscales first made his reputation with landscapes of central Chile, the Andes and the Aconcagua valley. His great naval pictures of the War of the Pacific, among them the Battle of Iquique and the Battle of Angamos, are treated in Chile as national documents. Many are held by Chilean museums, the Navy and national institutions.

In Britain

In England he became known for deep-sea sailing ships painted with a sailor's knowledge of wind, rigging and light. Off Valparaiso hangs in the Tate collection, and his work is held in Hull, at the Ferens Art Gallery and Hull Maritime Museum, and in other public collections across the country.

Coming soon

A fuller picture

This site is growing. A gallery of his paintings, more of his story and fine art prints are on the way.