B. F. Gribble

Bernard Finegan Gribble (10 May 1872 – 21 February 1962) was a British artist and illustrator who specialised in marine subjects. Although he also painted portraits and landscapes, much of Gribble's artistic production was concerned with the drama and excitement of ships and sailors on the high seas or at port, whether as historical tableaux or representing contemporary events and subjects.

Biography Early life

Bernard Finegan Gribble was born at South Kensington, London on 10 May 1872, the youngest of two children of Herbert Augustine Keate, an architect known for designing Brompton Oratory and Armada Memorial, Julia Mary (née Finagan). Bernard was educated at the College of St. Francis Xavier in Bruges, Belgium. He briefly studied under his father and then studied drawing at the South Kensington Art School, where one of his tutors was Albert Toft.

Career In 1891, Gribble's painting The Burning of the 'Mentmore''' was exhibited at the Royal Academy.

Gribble exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy from 1898 to 1904 and at the Paris Salon from 1905. Gribble was present at the scuttling of the German fleet at Scapa Flow, where he witnessed the events on board the trawler Sochisin and produced two large oil paintings from the experience. One of these, The Sinking of the German Fleet at Scapa Flow, depicts German sailors from the cruiser Frankfurt approaching Sochisin in a lifeboat, the Sochisin crew ordering them at gunpoint to return to their sinking ship.

Personal life and death In 1902, Bernard Gribble and Eleanor Mabel Clunn (known as 'Nellie') were married at Kensington. They had no children

Bernard Gribble died in Poole on 21 February 1962 at age 89, One critic described him as a "specialist in burning ships", while others compared his paintings to the fine marine vistas of Henry Moore. Spanish galleons and treasure vessels are also well represented in his work Kaiser Willhelm was so impressed by Gribble's work that King George V summoned him to his royal residence.

Gribble also worked as an illustrator. His work appeared in numerous magazines, including The Illustrated London News and The Graphic, Gribble also illustrated several books and his work was published on royal postcards, menus, and chocolate boxes.

Official purchases

Sinking of German Fleet, Scapa Flow 1918 — Preston Art Gallery and Museum The Doomed Fleet — Bristol Museum and Art Gallery The Captain's Last Landing, No Surrender from the Pirate Captain, and Departure of the Pilgrim Fathers — Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery Market St, Poole — Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum Bournemouth, Our Golden Argosies (canvas) — presented by D Elliot Alves esq to the Federal Parliament House Return of the Mayflower and Surrender of the German Fleet to the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow Originals — United States Naval Academy Smaller originals — Franklin D. Roosevelt The Duchess of York Receiving the Freedom of the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights — National Maritime Museum

Recognition In December 1941, Newfoundland issued a stamp featuring Gribble's painting Grenfell on the Strathcona to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the founding of Wilfred Grenfell's medical mission to the colony. The United States also considered Gribble's painting Surrender of the German Fleet to the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow for a seventeen cent postage stamp in the 1930s US Army and Navy commemorative series.