This book is a biography of the dominant British marine painter of his period, chronicling the naval history of epic years in print and painting. Born in France, travelling the world as a young man, brought to England as a prisoner-of-war, Dominic Serres became the dominant British marine painter of his period. Working initially with the print publishers who were recording the actions of the Seven Years' War, Serres soon attracted the patronage of the leading naval commanders of his day which was to occupy him for the rest of his life. His prolific output showed a similar evolution in content from early landscapes to the predominantly maritime subjects his distinguished patrons prescribed. He remained a landscapist at heart and included these features whenever he could. A founder member of the Royal Academy and Marine Painter to King George III, he played his part in a crucial period of development in British painting and of growing national awareness through colonial wars in the Americas
