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SkaForHire

Colorful hull and sails

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Usually I would say most warships were probably not too colorful, and did not have colored sails unless there was a special reason...

so i was suprised to find this engraving of John Paul Jones famous battle.... looks like lego made these ships! LOL

so maybe red hulls are not so off sometimes...

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Do bare in mind its only artwork. I've seen dozens replica and preserved ships sailing round during the Tall Ships Festival and not one of them had any bright colours.

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Do bare in mind its only artwork. I've seen dozens replica and preserved ships sailing round during the Tall Ships Festival and not one of them had any bright colours.

well i have seen red hulled ships at tall ship gatherings. not as bright as lego red, but still pretty bright. Would have been nice if Lego would have made a wide white hull, that is another hull color that seems to have existed in regular amounts.

I know it is just artwork, but why would someone make all the sails and the hulls those colors? abstract art did not really come around until the 1900s... i guess more would have to be looked up about the artist

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Oh dear laddie! Lets not go into an Art Theory lecture because I've had enough of those for one life time.

To put simply Matisse became famous with paintings like this...

matisse.jpg

Obviously this is an over exaggeration of reality! He was influenced by C

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Some ship's had a white keel, blue details and very bright almost yellow wood... but this bright red? I can't imagine a real ship with that colours, tall ships are sometimes. The sails, I think they are mostly white, or for pirates, black or red...I once saw a VOC ship with green sails, but that was on an event...but that painting, I doubt that those are the real colours...

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Maybe the work is indeed a depiction of a festivial in which the vessels were decoration for the occassion.

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Maybe the work is indeed a depiction of a festivial in which the vessels were decoration for the occassion.

And maybe you're right, but I guess we'll never know... I believe the only reason lego ships were bright and colorful is because people like them that way, but if you look at the black seas Barracuda, and the SES They are both beautiful! I mean really... They look good in LEGO.

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White hulls are still popular today.... some ships were definitely white. Red, i have seen red tall ships, not lego red, its darker then that but still red. I really dont have the time to dig for pictures, but if this thread is going after this weekend still i might. lol

Anyway... thanks for finding more artwork by that guy, phes. But, this makes me wonder, since he painted that picture in the "right" colors, why did he paint the other wrong? or were they really different colors?

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Imagine how monotomous Mr Paton's oeuvre would be if he only painted one particular way. The artist must constantly explore new possibilities, otherwise it begs the question "what is the point of continually repeating oneself"?

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Imagine how monotomous Mr Paton's oeuvre would be if he only painted one particular way. The artist must constantly explore new possibilities, otherwise it begs the question "what is the point of continually repeating oneself"?

i suppose... and yet again i haven't looked into this guy at all, but if he was a contemporary the point of repeating ones self probably was for historical reasons not art. if a contemporary to this battle, he was probably commisioned to make this portrait for either the navy or for a patron... so taking artistic liberty would probably be out of the question. but again i didn't look this dude up, so he may be some guy drawing ships today. in that case, maybe you are right maybe he adds color so people will take notice.

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About the ships colors the most likely is that they were in the color of the wood maybe some kind of primitive painting with some protective coat but not really in color since pigments were rare and expensive to be used to paint ships and sails. The sails were almost exclusive white or the color of the fabric they were made, not painted.

I know that in traditional costumes in my region the most used pigment was red because was the more easy to obtain but also the most efemeral because it died fast whit exposure to sun ligh and washing, Black and blue were the rarest and to be used in the best clothes.

Just to say that lego toys and art paintigs of ancient ships are not supposed to be that realistic and thats the beauty of it, use your imagination.

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i suppose... and yet again i haven't looked into this guy at all, but if he was a contemporary the point of repeating ones self probably was for historical reasons not art.

He's got an official website which isn't very official looking... http://www.richardpaton.com/

This short biography might be more useful to you.

About the ships colors the most likely is that they were in the color of the wood maybe some kind of primitive painting with some protective coat but not really in color since pigments were rare and expensive to be used to paint ships and sails. The sails were almost exclusive white or the color of the fabric they were made, not painted.

This is a good point because paint was originally invented to protect surfaces rather than aesthetically enhance them, but at the same time most nations wouldn't want brightly coloured ships sailing around because it would make it very easy for the enemies to spot them and blow them out of the water!

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As mentioned, painting is expencive, very expencive sometimes. but anything made from wood would last longer if its protected, and many ships was tared to prefent them from rot. that made a dark "background" and with only smaller amount of painting a ship could look both fresh and better (in the captains eyes at least) so a rich kaptain/shipowner could spend some money on painting just as a showoff to others.

And some could also use money on painting to look like heroes, Patrick O`Brian tell about that in one of the books where a captain paint his ship just like HMS Victory is painted.

Sails was mostly white (or beige looking) because of two things.

it was light color on(some but not all) the cloth that they made sails from. and the salty wind and sea + the sun would bleach the cloth anyway. but a completly white sail would be nearly impossible to get. just thing of a new t-shirt that you put on before you start working, it would soon be less white than a new one.

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(8:10:48 PM) mister_phes: Feel free to add your own comments

(8:12:42 PM) buddha_with_hair: Indeed.

(8:12:52 PM) buddha_with_hair: I might if I was interested in leggo. lol.

(8:13:08 PM) mister_phes: Leggo makes pasta and pasta sauces

(8:13:09 PM) mister_phes: This is LEGO

(8:13:13 PM) mister_phes: Big difference

(8:14:18 PM) buddha_with_hair: haha see, my interest in the world of lego is not exactly great!

(8:14:36 PM) mister_phes: I was thinking more for the historic aspect

(8:14:54 PM) buddha_with_hair: ah yes, hmm well it depends on what era of pirate ships we are talking about.

(8:15:11 PM) buddha_with_hair: North african pirate ships were very brightly coloured around 600BC

(8:15:32 PM) buddha_with_hair: But they werent really "pirate ships" as we know them I guess.

(8:15:32 PM) mister_phes: You've proved my point... I never would have thought of that

(8:15:37 PM) buddha_with_hair: :)

(8:15:44 PM) mister_phes: You're providing interesting tangents

(8:15:48 PM) buddha_with_hair: indeed.

(8:15:52 PM) buddha_with_hair: I am the Ultra Lux

(8:16:04 PM) mister_phes: And that is why I suggested that you could comment

(8:18:50 PM) buddha_with_hair: heh perhaps I shall.

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Its good you took the time to edit our conversation Mr UltraLux! But yes, that is an interesting point. What do you know of 16th to 18th century piracy, particularly in the Caribbean?

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