Dead Calm: Boats off Cowes Castle

Dead Calm: Boats off Cowes Castle is an oil on canvas seascape by the British artist Augustus Wall Callcott, from c. 1827.^[1][2]

Dead Calm: Boats off Cowes Castle
Artist	Augustus Wall Callcott
Year	c. 1827
Type	Oil on canvas, landscape
Dimensions	89 cm × 119 cm (35 in × 47 in)
Location	National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

History and description

It portrays a view of the River Medina at Cowes on the Isle of Wight. Callcott portrays fishing boats in the river, with John Nash's East Cowes Castle away to the left. Several vessels lie becalmed on the waters including a hay barge.^[3]

It is not intended to be topographically accurate and is inspired by riverscapes of the Italian style. Calcott produced several versions of the painting, one of which was submitted to the Summer Exhibition of the Royal Academy in 1827. As J. M. W. Turner stayed with Nash that year and produced his own depiction of the river, it may have heightened the rivalry between the two artists. The work is in the collection National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.^[3]