Patrick O’Brien: Painting History Talk at Kalmar Nyckel Foundation July 18
Award-winning maritime artist Patrick O’Brien will give a talk on his artistic process, “Painting History with Patrick O’Brien,” at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 18, at the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation in Wilmington. He will discuss his extensive research and planning to create his oil painting of the “Kalmar Nyckel at the Battle of Buchan Ness, 1652.”
“My painting is a bit of visual storytelling that brings to life this fascinating episode in maritime history, an epic battle that featured a fleet of 66 English warships attacking 600 Dutch herring boats defended by 15 Dutch warships,” said O’Brien. How he created both his preliminary sketches and the finished oil painting on canvas will be shared through images and anecdotes. The event will be held at the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation, 1124 East 7th St., Wilmington. Admission is $20 for the public and $10 for members, which includes a reception with light fare and a cash bar at 5 p.m. Tickets are available online at KalmarNyckel.org/lecture and by phone at 302-429-7447.
Last year, the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation commissioned O’Brien to depict the “Battle of Buchan Ness” — the last battle of the original Kalmar Nyckel — in an oil painting that is part of a permanent exhibit at the Tatiana and Gerret Copeland Maritime Center. The new exhibit not only includes the painting, but also a 24-foot-by-9.5-foot back-lit reproduction of the painting. O’Brien’s work was chosen from an international search that included artists from the United States, England and the Netherlands.
O’Brien is renowned in the maritime art world, especially for his battle scenes. He has received awards from the American Society of Marine Artists (2020), The National Maritime Historical Society (2010) and the Mystic International Marine Exhibition, (2015, 2013), among others. More background on his work can be found at PatrickObrienStudio.com.
“In order to recreate the ‘Battle of Buchan Ness,’ I started with a lot of research about the ship itself,” O’Brien said. During his research, he sailed on and photographed today’s Kalmar Nyckel, which is a full-scale replica of the original ship. “As an artist I call on my knowledge of color, light, and atmosphere, and combine it with my research and reference material, to put it all together to create a realistic rendition of a historic scene,” O’Brien said.
Kalmar Nyckel Foundation Senior Historian and Director of Education Sam Heed said, “Our new permanent exhibit tells the story of the original Kalmar Nyckel’s demise fighting for the Dutch against an English fleet off the coast of Scotland on July 22, 1652. After a long and legendary career under the Swedish flag, she was serving the Dutch and protecting the valuable herring fleet when she was sunk by the English. This ‘Battle of Buchan Ness’ was the first official engagement of the First Anglo-Dutch War, a contest over global trading empires, fishing rights, and control of the seas around the British Isles.”
Kalmar Nyckel is a full-scale replica of the Swedish merchant ship from the 1638 expedition that founded the colony of New Sweden, the first permanent European settlement in the Delaware Valley. The ship has professional officers and a crew of 200 trained volunteers who help maintain, sail and teach its programs. No experience is required, and volunteers come from across the country and the globe. Launched in 1997, Kalmar Nyckel serves as an ambassador for the state and offers people of all ages a variety of sea- and land-based recreational and educational experiences.