The Royal Navy in Nova Scotia Waters

The large naval vessel is probably HMS Cumberland, flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir George Seymour; from an unsigned oil painting by Robert Wilkie, a talented amateur artist of Brunswick Street, Halifax. A very similar engraved "View of Halifax, Nova Scotia from the Red Mill, Dartmouth" appeared in Gleason's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion, Boston, Mass., 10 September 1853. Robert Wilkie (1827-1904) was born in Halifax and began his painting career here in the1840s. He emigrated to the United States in 1853 and lived in the Boston area for the rest of his life, as a successful painter, illustrator and teacher. The Red Mill was a water-driven gristmill, adjoining an eighteenth-century windmill built by James Munn and remembered today by Windmill Road in north Dartmouth. The vantage point on a height of land provided a spectacular view across to Halifax, George's Island and ships in the harbour. At the time this work was executed, the gristmill was still in operation.

Date: ca.1853

Medium: photo of original oil painting

Artist: Robert D. Wilkie

Reference: Nova Scotia Archives  Photo Collection: Artists: Wilkie