A Selection of Famous Caronia Paintings

Throughout the Timeline I have placed images of several Caronia paintings by various artists. This page brings them all together. Probably the two most widely available images were those used by Cunard on its card stock, mainly on menu covers and Postcards. These were also licensed out to several publishers for use in magazines or on promotional material.

The Paintings

Whilst I'm not able to place these in strict chronological order, we begin with the first known artist's impression of the ship. Whilst strictly not a “painting”, it is worthy of inclusion here. The similarity of this painting to the one below it suggests that this may also have been created by C.F. Hopkinson. This image appeared in some of the very first Caronia brochures.

Caronia - an artist's impression

Caronia by C.F. Hopkinson

Caronia by C.F. Hopkinson
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This painting and the one below were the most extensively used by Cunard. They were reproduced on menu covers and postcards, the latter freely available in Caronia's writing room. The scan came from a 17” x 9.5” print placed in a special promotional brochure for Anodite, the rust-proofing agent used on Caronia's steel.

Caronia by C.E. Turner

Caronia by C.E. Turner
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This painting, scanned from an early postcard, presents a bit of a mystery. The full-size prints of this painting were distributed by Cunard to all their top travel agents, however, on that version the correct all-green livery is depicted, rather than with the white as seen here. Later versions of the postcards, and the images placed on menu covers showed the proper livery.

Even many years after Caronia foundered, the image was widely used in an historical context. Here it is seen on a British Telecom Phonecard of the 1990s. Given a catalogue reference of BTG422, this was a limited series of 4 Cunarders with an edition of just 1,000 cards per ship (usual issues could run into the millions!), with a nominal value of 5 units.

Caronia by J. Nicholson

Caronia by J. Nicholson
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This painting was extensively used on postcards in the early 1950s. It also gives a possible clue to the white depictions of Caronia's livery. Although the scan shows white, on the postcard it does have a green tinge, so it's possible that in the reproduction process, the paler green was not sufficiently strong to register.

Caronia at New York by Winston Megoran

Caronia at New York by Winston Megoran
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Winston Megoran was mostly a technical illustrator, however he was also commissioned to produce paintings for publication in books. This scan came from an early book for boys, illustrating various forms of engineering and transport.

Caronia at Cook Strait - by Stephen Card

Caronia at Cook Strait in 1951
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© Stephen Card 2004
Reproduced with artist's permission

Stephen's painting was specially commissioned by Cunard for placement aboard their new super-liner the RMS Queen Mary 2. Caronia is seen in Cook Strait on her very first Round the World Cruise of 1951

Two Caronia Paintings by Harley Crossley

Caronia in Southampton Water
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Caronia departing from Cape Town

Both above images © Harley Crossley Studio
Reproduced with permission

Harley Crossley has specialised in marine paintings in oils with a knife for many years. He now spends several months each year lecturing on shipping and demonstrating his painting technique on cruise ships around the World. The painting of Caronia at Cape Town was a commission from a man who had seen a similar painting of his of Arundel Castle leaving Cape Town.

See more of Harley's work here…