Samuel Walters, British 1811-1882- The Ship 'Guiding Star'; oil on canvas, signed and dated 'S. WALTERS. 1853' (lower left), 81.8 x 122 cm. Provenance: With Richard Green, London [no.AG393].; An important Private Collection, UK. Note: Walters was one of the most celebrated marine artists of the 19th-century Liverpool School. Like many of his paintings, the present work foregrounds an individual ship against an empty expanse of sea and sky, with the choppy seas here creating a sense of dynamism which echoes the globalisation brought by developments in the ship-building industry. The clipper ship ‘Guiding Star’ was built in 1853, was initially owned by Miller & Thompson's Golden Line, and completed her first round trip to Melbourne in 1854. On 9th January 1855, she departed Liverpool to Australia with 62 crew and officers and 481 passengers on board, mostly emigrants. She was last seen on 15th February 1855 in the Southern Ocean by the American Ship ‘Mercury’, and was soon after tragically shipwrecked, presumably having been embayed in a huge icefield. Please refer to department for condition report