Eddystone Lighthouse

Isaac Sailmaker

Oil on canvas

National Maritime Museum

This oil painting depicts John Rudyerd's wooden lighthouse on the treacherous Eddystone Rocks off Plymouth, England, surrounded by naval vessels including four identified men-of-war and smaller craft bearing supplies. The composition provides a rare documentary image of the structure, showing architectural details such as the iron bolts anchoring it to the rock, the circular staircase, and a figure on the lantern balcony surveying the sea with a telescope. Isaac Sailmaker, a Dutch-born marine painter who emigrated to England and worked within the tradition of Willem van de Velde the Younger, rendered the scene with his characteristic restrained palette of greys, greens, and black. The painting is one of four commissioned versions and stands as an important record of one of the most celebrated lighthouses in English maritime history.