¶I came across this extensive biographical sketch of Henry Clifford, the painter of yesterday’s feature image depicting the steamship Great Eastern, in my web travels last night. Turns out, Mr. Clifford was a telegraph engineer first and a painter second. He designed Great Eastern’s paying-out machinery and was on the ship for its cable laying expeditions. Painting appears to have been mostly a hobby.
¶One of Henry Clifford’s favourite subjects was the Great Eastern. He painted many views of the ship engaged in the Atlantic cable expeditions, including a number of variations of the same scene.
¶It’s likely that Henry Clifford made sketches or preliminaries…while on board ship, then painted the finished oils when he returned to England. The National Maritime Museum at Greenwich has four oil paintings of the Great Eastern by Clifford, as well as several watercolours.
¶I was surprised to see Wikipedia does not have an article for Henry Clifford, though it does have articles (or stubs) for several other Henry Cliffords. So, I added his name to the list of Henry Cliffords, hoping someone will flush it out. This biographical sketch would be a great starting point.