Fingal’s Cave, Staffa, Inner Hebrides, Scotland. Depictions in various media and artists.

*Fingal’s Cave, Staffa, Inner Hebrides, Scotland.* British. 1792. Nicholas Pocock, watercolorist. Pencil, pen and ink, and watercolor on paper. Signed and dated “N Pocock 1792” on the lower left. Image © Christie’s 2022. Fair use license. via https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/dramas-light-land-martyn-gregory-collection-british-art/nicholas-pocock-o-w-s-bristol-1740-1821-maidenhead-1/144022?ldp_breadcrumb=back

Vue de la Grotte de Fingal a l’Ile de Staffa une des Hebrides
[View of Fingal’s Cave at the Isle of Staffa, One of the Hebrides]. 1804. French, done in Paris. Hand colored engraving. Michel Picquenot (born 1747), engraver after Josephus Augustus Knip (1777-1847). Image © George D. Glazer 2022. Fair use license. via https://www.georgeglazer.com/wpmain/product/view-of-fingals-cave-at-the-isle-of-staffa-josephus-augustus-knip-paris-1804/

*Fingal’s Cave, Isle of Staffa*. ca. 1847. British. Pencil, watercolor and bodycolor. William Leighton Leitch, artist (1804-1883). Image © Royal Collection Trust. Fair use license. via https://www.rct.uk/collection/919679/fingals-cave-isle-of-staffa

*Fingal’s Cave, Island of Staffa, Scotland.* 1884. American. Oil on canvas. Thomas Moran, artist (1837-1926). Collections of the High Museum of Art, Atlanta. Artwork itself in the public domain due to age. via https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/fingal%E2%80%99s-cave-island-of-staffa-scotland-thomas-moran/mQHHFqVi5xwxog?hl=en

Down to the water with French painter of marine subjects Henriette Gudin who signed her works as “Mme Fauchier” after she married in 1850. Living from 1825 to 1892, she was the daughter of the painter painter Jean Antoine Théodore de Gudin.

Scène de plage avec des pêcheurs de crabe au clair de lune. Before 1876. French. Signed on the lower left. Image source:
duesseldorfer-auktionshaus.de/ In the public domain in the United States because the artist died over 100 years ago. via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Henriette_Gudin_Strandszene.jpg

Vessels on the Bosphorus. ca,. 1850. French. Image source: Christies. Signed on the lower left. In the public domain in the United States because the artist died over 100 years ago. via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Henriette_Gudin_-_Vessels_on_the_Bosphorus.jpg

Marine scene. Undated, by 1876. French. Oil on panel. Signed on the lower left. Image © 2008-2021 Bukowski Auktioner AB. Fair use license, via https://www.bukowskis.com/en/lots/1222828-henriette-herminie-gudin-oil-on-panel-signed

“Abandonment of the Whalers in the Arctic Ocean, September, 1871.” Three hand-colored lithographs from 1872 done in New Bedford, Massachusetts by Benjamin Russell. Looks awfully cold. Part of a current Swann Galleries auction catalogue.

“Abandonment of the Whalers in the Arctic Ocean, September, 1871: Blossom Shoals.” 1872. American. Hand-colored lithograph. John Henry Bufford, lithographer after Benjamin Russell. Image © Swann Auction Galleries. Fair use license. via https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/Lots/auction-lot/-WHALING–JH-Buffords-lithographers-Group-of-3-prints-depict?saleno=2580&lotNo=281&refNo=783413

“Abandonment of the Whalers in the Arctic Ocean, September, 1871″. The names of the various whaling vessels are listed including the ‘Victoria” over at the far right. 1872. American. Hand-colored lithograph. John Henry Bufford, lithographer after Benjamin Russell. Image © Swann Auction Galleries. Fair use license. via https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/Lots/auction-lot/-WHALING–JH-Buffords-lithographers-Group-of-3-prints-depict?saleno=2580&lotNo=281&refNo=783413

“Abandonment of the Whalers in the Arctic Ocean, September, 1871: The ‘Europa,’ the ‘Daniel Webster,’ the ‘Midas,’ the ‘Chance,’ the ‘Arctic’ , the ‘Progress’, and the ‘Lagoda’: Ships receiving the Captains, Officers, and Crews of Abandoned Ships” 1872. American. Hand-colored lithograph. John Henry Bufford, lithographer after Benjamin Russell. Image © Swann Auction Galleries. Fair use license. via https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/Lots/auction-lot/-WHALING–JH-Buffords-lithographers-Group-of-3-prints-depict?saleno=2580&lotNo=281&refNo=783413

These hand-colored lithographs appear to have been part of a larger set. Lithographs in sets or otherwise were very popular in 19th century America and the drawings for these images was probably done with the intention of selling them as prints. They refer to incident known as the Whaling disaster of 1871 off the northern Alaskan coast in which a fleet of 33 American whaling ships stayed were trapped in the Arctic ice in late 1871 and subsequently abandoned. Amazingly, no one died.

Please note that in my area where people went whaling from in the 19th century we regard these as history. I know depictions of whaling are not seen like that everywhere. However these images depict no actual whales, that and the ocean won.