Anatomy of a Boat Deck Portrait
Fortunino Matania never beheld the Titanic himself, but saw it through the eyes of those who were and communicated that vision for all time.
Anatomy of a Boat Deck Portrait
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Iain Stuart Yardley
Member
I've always thought this painting, by Sphere artist Fortunino Matania, was a mixture of fiction and wild imagination and so it is refreshing to discover that this scene is actually a 'reconstruction' of events at lifeboat 16 by a survivor who was there. Senan Molony has put forward names for some of the crew pictured. Can anyone attempt to name some of the passengers depicted? All in all, amazing stuff!
Cheers,
Boz
Cheers,
Boz
Michael H. Standart
Member
Leave it to Senan to dig around in places nobody ever thought of to bring to light some surprisingly obscure information. Like Iain, I had tended to think of the painting of the boatdeck scene as being a tad fanciful, but given a closer look, I can see that this opinion may very well be in error.
I hope we can look forward to more from Senan in the future.
I hope we can look forward to more from Senan in the future.
Randy Bryan Bigham
Member
This is one of the best pieces of "Titanic history" I've read here or anywhere in a long time.
I'm like Iain and Michael and always thought the Matania scene was an amalgam of various press accounts. It's great to learn that the artist actually conferred with a survivor to faithfully recreate this tense and emotional moment at boat 16, capturing some of the real-life players in the drama.
I was particularly interested to find that the young officer helping in the loading of the boat may be James Moody. If so, what a wonderful tribute to him this is. It is also bittersweet as I believe boat 16 was the one that, had fate been kinder, should have carried the young man to safety.
I, too, am intrigued about the identities of the passengers. Isn't Edwinna Troutt thought to have escaped in boat 16? Could she be the lady in the scarf, seated in the boat? Is the couple in the foreground the Allisons? What about the baker - is that Joughin?
Fascinating picture and fascinating article. Thanks to Senan for uncovering this true behind-the-scenes story!
I'm like Iain and Michael and always thought the Matania scene was an amalgam of various press accounts. It's great to learn that the artist actually conferred with a survivor to faithfully recreate this tense and emotional moment at boat 16, capturing some of the real-life players in the drama.
I was particularly interested to find that the young officer helping in the loading of the boat may be James Moody. If so, what a wonderful tribute to him this is. It is also bittersweet as I believe boat 16 was the one that, had fate been kinder, should have carried the young man to safety.
I, too, am intrigued about the identities of the passengers. Isn't Edwinna Troutt thought to have escaped in boat 16? Could she be the lady in the scarf, seated in the boat? Is the couple in the foreground the Allisons? What about the baker - is that Joughin?
Fascinating picture and fascinating article. Thanks to Senan for uncovering this true behind-the-scenes story!
Inger Sheil
Member
Senan announced privately last year that, with his second child due in 2003, he was 'retiring' from writing for a while on maritime subjects. How fortunate we are that although the enchanting Millie has been born, he has done nothing of the sort - and from conversations with him, it seems this article is merely the beginning of the new material we'll be seeing from this most talented and lyrical of maritime author/historians.
I've long admired the Sphere art as some of the most evocative work produced regarding that night - very much of its era and yet in many ways transcending it - and Sen's article confirms my views. The range of emotion and the touches of realism amidst the more stylised elements make it a very workmanlike narrative piece - it tells a story in an accessible way.
I'd never thought to identify the painting with Boat 16, but had often wondered about the image of one of the officers - not the one Sen identifies as Moody, but the other figure with a haunted, darting glance. I had assumed that these were generic images of officers and crew rather than specific portraits, but Sen's work suggests the former as a possibility.
Here's hoping we see more of Senan's high calibre work in the ET Gallery - he combines in rare degree both quality and quantity in his writing. He has the sense of narrative and the kernal of a story that comes as a journalist, the eye of an artist and the lyricism of a poet. With these, he combines the historian's unquenchable thirst to get to the whys and wherefores as well as the bare facts of events and human motivation, as well as the research skills to find the data itself.
I've long admired the Sphere art as some of the most evocative work produced regarding that night - very much of its era and yet in many ways transcending it - and Sen's article confirms my views. The range of emotion and the touches of realism amidst the more stylised elements make it a very workmanlike narrative piece - it tells a story in an accessible way.
I'd never thought to identify the painting with Boat 16, but had often wondered about the image of one of the officers - not the one Sen identifies as Moody, but the other figure with a haunted, darting glance. I had assumed that these were generic images of officers and crew rather than specific portraits, but Sen's work suggests the former as a possibility.
Here's hoping we see more of Senan's high calibre work in the ET Gallery - he combines in rare degree both quality and quantity in his writing. He has the sense of narrative and the kernal of a story that comes as a journalist, the eye of an artist and the lyricism of a poet. With these, he combines the historian's unquenchable thirst to get to the whys and wherefores as well as the bare facts of events and human motivation, as well as the research skills to find the data itself.
monica e. hall
Member
Now that's what I call interesting. Quite apart from sighing wistfully over the man's sheer technical expertise, I was most forcibly struck by his passion for veracity. After all, he could have just done it mosly from imagination - that's only what everyone would have expected. Much quicker. He must have felt very strongly about truth. Wonder what media he'd be in now if he were young? Documentary director, maybe.
Michael H. Standart
Member
Most likely, Mr. Matania would be a modern day commercial artist/historian as Ken Marschall is, and just as good at it too. I've seen a number of period illustrations, (Who in the Titanic Community hasn't?) and precious few of them show anything like the same meticulous attention to detail that these two men do. Some are just plain sensational fantasy.
monica e. hall
Member
Pity he wasn't around when they were filming Titanic. Then he could have drawn the 'exquisite' portfolio than Winslet was forced to admire, and the rest of us wouldn't have been left stirring restlessly in the stalls muttering "No wonder they didn't think much of them in old Paree". JC draws marginally better than me, and I wouldn't let any of mine out of the house.
Bob Godfrey
Member
Monica, I believe that you and I are 'of an age', so you might remember the educational mag Look and Learn in the early 60s, and certainly the boy's comic Eagle? Matania's illustrations appeared in both, and still in the same style of meticulous attention to detail. I believe also he illustrated at least one of the Ladybird books, which were (and maybe still are?) an essential component of growing up in the UK!
monica e. hall
Member
Hello, Bob.
"Of an age" .. how delicate! We're getting on, no question about it....
I don't remember Look & Learn very clearly, but my parents got me the Childrens' Newspaper - probably just as boring, to someone young. But, boy, do I remember the Eagle? However, I chiefly remember the Mekon, green face and all. And Harris Tweed. I don't think either of these could have been Matania. Perhaps he illustrated those tales of derring-do which were featured every week? WW2 pilots and such? Re Ladybird books, I bought those for my sons only (only...?) 15 years ago, and I shall go up in the attic to see if Matania had illustrated any of ours.
"Of an age" .. how delicate! We're getting on, no question about it....
I don't remember Look & Learn very clearly, but my parents got me the Childrens' Newspaper - probably just as boring, to someone young. But, boy, do I remember the Eagle? However, I chiefly remember the Mekon, green face and all. And Harris Tweed. I don't think either of these could have been Matania. Perhaps he illustrated those tales of derring-do which were featured every week? WW2 pilots and such? Re Ladybird books, I bought those for my sons only (only...?) 15 years ago, and I shall go up in the attic to see if Matania had illustrated any of ours.
Bob Godfrey
Member
Matania artwork in the Eagle was used to illustrate true tales of historical adventure. I doubt that he ever did any of the strips, but he would have been up for the Mekon - earlier in his career he had illustrated Pirates of Venus for Edgar Rice Burroughs! I recently saw an Eagle annual from the '70s at an auction site, complete with recycled Matania artwork of a mediaeval battle on the cover. He also did great posters for the LMS railway in the 30s, advertising the exotic delights of Blackpool and Southport with no less enthusiasm than he showed when illustrating the great events of history or the antics of the Pirates of Venus.
PS: We are both in our prime, Monica! 'Of an age' simply means 'the same age'.
PS: We are both in our prime, Monica! 'Of an age' simply means 'the same age'.
Iain Stuart Yardley
Member
Is that third-class passenger Frank Dwan I see in the crowd, watching the loading of lifeboat 16? He would be the one with the white beard? And I would guess Harry Faunthorpe would be somewhere in the crowd, having seen his 'wife' Elizabeth Wilkinson safely away.
George Pastarmatzis
Member
Hi! Are the ladies in the foreground and the one in the boat first class passengers? I assume they are from their clothing but could they possibly be identified? I guess not since I believe the whole image is a fine example of the action taking place then under horrible conditions and not merely a strict representation of an actual event ... Thanks!
Brian R Peterson
Guest
I remembering seeing this picture either on the web or a book awhile ago and someone had identified the people in the painting, however I dont remember who was whom or who made the id's.
Best Regards,
Brian
Best Regards,
Brian
Randy Bryan Bigham
Member
George asked: "Are the ladies in the foreground and the one in the boat first class passengers? I assume they are from their clothing but could they possibly be identified?"
I have always thought that the red-haired lady in the foreground was based on Lucile. There was a photo of Lucile, used often in the press at the time, in which she quite resembles this figure - even her head is lowered at the exact same angle as in the Matania illustration. It was well-known and much commented on that Lucile was a red-head and the painted lady's provocative, beribboned negligee and carelessly open peignoir are other potential clues.
I have always thought that the red-haired lady in the foreground was based on Lucile. There was a photo of Lucile, used often in the press at the time, in which she quite resembles this figure - even her head is lowered at the exact same angle as in the Matania illustration. It was well-known and much commented on that Lucile was a red-head and the painted lady's provocative, beribboned negligee and carelessly open peignoir are other potential clues.
