Queen Mary's First Approach to Southampton

Queen Mary's First Approach to Southampton depicts Cunard's flagship in the Solent for the first time as a completed ship - the culmination of years of construction and the beginning of a famous career in transatlantic service.

The RMS Queen Mary was Britain's answer to the supremacy of the SS Bremen and SS Europa in the 1930s. She was one of the largest ocean liners afloat and embodied the technological achievement and national pride of 1930s Britain, built at John Brown & Company in Clydebank, Scotland.

This painting captures the moment of her first arrival at Southampton as a new ship, escorted by tugboats through the Solent. The famous red funnels stand out against the hazy English sky. In the background, Calshot Spit - then home to an important seaplane base - marks the entrance to Southampton Water.

Soon, Queen Mary would depart on her maiden voyage to New York, an event that would be celebrated by thousands of spectator boats, as captured in another painting in this gallery. She would go on to capture the Blue Riband (the trophy for fastest transatlantic crossing) and serve as the flagship of the Cunard Line throughout the 1930s and beyond, becoming one of the most recognisable ocean liners to be built.

This painting was created after research into the arrival and the appearance of the Solent in 1936.