Philip John Ouless (British, 1817-1885)
Wreck of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Express off the Corbiere, Jersey, September 20th 1859
signed with monogram, dated and inscribed 'Painted/on the spot 1859' (lower left)
oil on canvas
38.1 x 63.8cm (15 x 25 1/8in).
Footnotes:
Provenance
From the artist's family, thence by descent to the present owner Philip John Ouless (great-great grandson of the artist).

The canvas has not been lined. The canvas undulates slightly.

There is a faint horizontal stretcher mark through the centre of the canvas.

The surface is ruff in texture with an unsmooth finish.

There is some areas of cracking to the paint surface most notably a 2cm defined crack to the paint surface in the far left of the sky with some minor chips to the paint and there is another 4cm defined vertical crack in the upper right of the sky where the canvas protrudes slightly in this area.

Some small scattered abrasions through the canvas.

There is a pinhole in the foreground in the lower right edge by the kneeling figure.

Surface dirt and a dirty varnish layer.

UV light reveals a few minor spots of retouching however a thick reflective varnish layer obscures further reading.