Egide Linnig, Paddle Steamer 'Cygnus'

Waveney District Council

Date: 1855
Technique: Oil on canvas, 59 x 80 cm

The Cygnus, an iron paddler, was built in 1854 by Henderson and Sons of Renfrew for the North of Europe Steam Navigation Company's  between Harwich and Antwerp, a service which lasted for only a few months. After a charter on the same route the following year to the Eastern Counties Railway this vessel was then laid up until taken over in 1857, first on charter and subsequently bought, by a new organisation, the Weymouth and Channel Islands Steam Packet Company, which planned to take advantage of the railway's recent arrival in Weymouth and provide an onward connection to Guernsey and Jersey.
Company from Weymouth sold the ship in 1889. New owner was Alfred Tolhurst. The same year the Cygnus passed to Thomas Holden who planned to run her between Preston and Douglas on the Isle of Man and then on to David Macbrayne in 1891. After a thorough rebuild, with new paddle boxes and only one funnel, she emerged as the 'Brigadier' and sailed on various routes in the Western Isles before hitting a rock off the Isle of Harris on 7th December 1896 where she sank and where she still remains in deep water today. Fortunately all the passengers and crew were saved.

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Egide Linnig, The three-master 'Constant' off the coast of New Guinea

Date: 1860
Technique: Oil on canvas, 55 x 88.5 cm

From the 1850s onwards Linnig produced many marines. These were either general genre scenes or scenes depicting a named ship playing a principal role in the action. The latter were a form of combination between a ship portrait and general marine painting and were usually made on the commission of shipping companies and ship captains. An example of the latter category is the The three-master 'Constant' off the coast of New Guinea. It depicts the trading vessel the 'Constant' after it ran on a coral reef off the coast of a small island near New Guinea on 15 June 1858. It also shows how, after abandoning ship, the crew tries to go on land after the lifeboats sprang a leak.

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Egide Linnig, Belgian merchant navy frigate 'Macassar'

MAS Museum aan de stroom, Antwerp

Date: 1854
Technique: Oil on panel, 54 x 74 cm

Painting depicts the Belgian merchant frigate 'Macassar' owned by the Antwerp shipping company J.B. Donnet & Co.

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Egide Linnig, The 'Soho' enters the Scheldt estuary near Flushing

MAS Museum aan de stroom, Antwerp

Date: 1843
Technique: Oil on panel, 56 x 72 cm

... A good example of Linnig's Romantic pursuit of effects can be seen in The 'Soho' enters the Scheldt estuary near Flushing, which is perhaps one of the most impressive paintings in his oeuvre. Linnig treats the subject in a particularly original manner by portraying the "Soho", a steamer of the London General Steam & Navigation Company, not as seen from its starboard or its port side as was customary, but rather in frontal view. As a result, the steamer is shown in extreme foreshortening and the bow of the ship gets the full attention. This special angle, combined with details such as the ship’s powerful radar unit, the rough sea, the stormy weather and the dilapidated guardhouse create an energetic and dynamic composition.

'Soho' (1823) was one of the oldest vessels in the fleet of the London General Steam & Navigation Company.

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