British maritime artist Nicolas Pocock was part of the first generation of British sea painters who followed the Dutch tradition of the Van de Veldes alongside such notables as Isaac Sailmaker, Peter Monamy, Dominic Serres and Charles Brooking. Nicolas Pocock would help build the reputation and perception of seascape and maritime historical painting. Nicolas Pocock was a founding member of the Old Watercolor Society at the age of 63. His main contribution was in naval battle scenes and engagements in oil and watercolor media. Among his patrons Pocock counted several members of the aristocracy and important naval officers, for whom he strove to capture accurate depictions of the might of the Royal Navy in all its varieties. Nicolas Pocock was himself a naval man, and after leaving service lived and worked in Bristol and then London. Pocock would travel the length of the country painting the harbours and ports around the coast of England. During his lifetime, Pocock exhibited 113 paintings at the Royal Academy, mostly showing a particular historical naval event or battle, not only of British naval events but other European maritime hisotrcial actions. Probabaly the largest collection of his works hang in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, but his work also hangs in museums in the United Kingdon, Holland and other European countries.

Nicolas Pocock, 1741 - 1821.