Important Watercolour Marine Painting HMS London 1914 Escorting British Expedition Force WW1 By Frank Watson Wood.Impress your guests or your clients & be drawn into the beginning of WW1 historic moment marine masterpiece for your home or office.Watercolour on paper with a front protective glass cover.Title “HMS London 1914” Escorting British Expedition Force Across The Channel Onboard Midshipman Edmund Walter Anstice K.C.B by Frank Watson Wood.Circa 1915 early 20th century. Signed in the bottom corner by the known listed English marine artist Frank Watson Wood.Inscribed near the botto with the title H.M.S London 1914.Set in a recent gilt traditional Larson Juhl frame with ar70 protective glass cover & new mount which enhances this work further.A delightful display size with the frame being 53 cm wide and 44 cm high.Subject seascape marine view of the known British pre-dreadnought battleship HMS London steaming along on high seas shown in full side profile facing towards the right, onboard midshipman Edmund Walter Anstice, K.C.B. Who would later become a Vice-Admiral. She is escorting the British expedition force heading for France around the beginning of WW1, other battleships are shown in the distance on the right and left flanks. Below 3 seagulls flying low & above blue sky with scattered white clouds.In our opinion this is an exceptional historic marine masterpiece one of his very fine works.Artist biography Frank Watson Wood (19 September 1862 – 23 March 1953) commenced his career as a Royal Navy officer, and was described in 1907 as ''naval artist, Portsmouth''. He went on to become an internationally regarded watercolourist. His works have been exhibited in galleries & sold at auction houses around the world the highest sold price was for $34,327 US dollars for his Scapa Flow work that sold at Bonhams. He son of Robert and Ann, who resided in the High Street of Berwick-upon-Tweed, Frank Wood was initially apprenticed to a Grocer but, having convinced his parents of his talent, soon moved to study at the Berwick School of Art. Soon after he moved to Kensington to study at the South Kensington Art School (later The Royal College of Art) and in 1886, moved to the Newcastle School of Art where he served as Second Master. After a period as Headmaster of the White School of Art, he decided to become a professional artist in 1899 and moved to Portsmouth in 1906 to focus on painting ships. Moving amongst the officers of the fleet, in August 1903 he sold King Edward VII a watercolour which he hung in the Royal Yacht. Queen Alexandra. purchased at the same time a further three pictures, all associated with views taken during Cowes Regatta week. In November 1907 the Queen again purchased from him two large watercolours. These two sales set his artistic career in motion and he developed into one of the most prolific and talented marine artists of the 20th century.Much of Woods early work came from s...