As promised, here is the rip-roaring story of how Manolis Mermelechas, a pirate of Mykonos, Greece, “took” his wife (and I mean “took” literally, not figuratively!). Pay attention Hollywood…there’s a great plot for a pirate movie here!

The Story of the Ship is a story of life cycles. In this circa 1924 series by Harry Neyland, the artist uses 5 small oil on panel paintings to illustrate the creation, life, and demise of this vessel. But there are two life cycles directly associated with this series.

On ‘Talk Like A Pirate’ day in September 2019, we posted a message on Twitter showing a watercolor portrait of an ornately dressed man named “Marmalakè.”

This week, while trying to identify prints in our collection that showed dghasa, a beautiful little craft native to Malta, I stumbled across a really interesting watercolor painted by Nicolas Cammillieri. The artwork is titled “H.M. Sloop Parthian Capturing a Spanish Pirate.” The computer record didn’t contain any information about the event depicted but I figured there must be an interesting story behind the artwork–and I was right!

A little over 20 years after its last major treatment, Conquering the Wild was due for a day at the spa.

Much like the way these men work together towards a common goal, color, light, composition, and subject matter work together to create an overall harmonious feeling in the work. This feeling is one of unity, a core principle in art.

A few weeks ago, on a late summer boat ride on the James River, I noticed the outlines of looming grey ships in the distance that I hadn’t seen before. “What are those?” I wondered aloud.