Lot 224 CAPTAIN RICHARD BRYDGES BEECHEY HRHA (1808 - 1895)
Title: The Flower of Yarrow (C. 1845)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Signature: Unsigned; Inscribed on Labels Verso
Provenance: Francis Nathaniel Conyngham, 2nd Marquess Conyngham (1797 - 1876);
These Rooms, 'Five Centuries of Fine Art, C. 1490 - 1941', 9 July 2014;
Private Collection
Notes: With Marquess Conyngham Label Verso and Bonhams, London Consignment
Label Verso
Framed
Painted around 1845, this canvas by Richard Brydges Beechey depicts a large yacht on a port tack, cutting through the waves under full sail. A white burgee with red cross flies from the masthead, indicating the vessel belongs to the Royal Yacht Squadron of Cowes. The yacht is also flying a white ensign. The sky is cloudy with a hint of rain, and the taut sails and scudding waves suggest a stiff breeze. Near the yacht, a patch of sunlight illuminates the sea. The Flower of Yarrow is cutter-rigged, with one mast, and an exceptionally long bowsprit carrying two jib sails. Other boats can be seen in the background, including cutters, schooners and yawls, suggesting a race is in progress. The type of vessel depicted in this work appears in other paintings by Beechey, such as 'A Pilot Cutter and Schooner Tacking in Choppy Waters' (Sothebys, 4 April 2024).
Based on working boats - such as pilot or revenue cutters, these large yachts, built for pleasure cruising and racing, were fast and carried a huge amount of sail. The name of this vessel was inspired by Mary Scott, a young woman known as the “Flower of Yarrowâ€, who lived amongst Scottish border raiders in the sixteenth century. Listed as belonging to the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes, the Flower of Yarrow is mentioned in Guest and Boulton’s 1902 history of the club: “To Lord Conyngham belongs the distinction of being the greatest owner of yachts of his own or any other time. During the thirty-six years of his membership he rang the changes on all rigs and tonnages and never failed to bring a new boat to the Solent at least every other season. He began with the little Medina in 1840, a cutter of 43; in the following year, his Flower of Yarrow was a famous yawl of 183 tons; the Constance, 218, was a noted schooner of 1850; he glanced as it were at the discredited luggers with the Panther, 35, in 1860, and his series of steam yachts ending with the Helen, 420, in 1872, were among the most notable in their classâ€. While Conyngham’s yacht is described as a yawl, it was common for owners to alter their sailing rigs. Other yachts in the RYS bore the name Flower of Yarrow over the years; one owned by the Duke of Buccleuch made a voyage to Iceland in 1834, while a later yacht, owned by Charles Harbord, 5th Baron Suffield in the early 1870s, was also named Flower of Yarrow.
Dr. Peter Murray,
August 2026
€8000 - 12000
Image: 45 x 61cm Framed: 63 x 79cm (approx.)
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