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Biography of Isaac Sailmaker (circa 1633–1721)
Dutch marine painter active in England. ‘Sailmaker’ may be a nickname referring to his earlier occupation. According to some sources, he was born in Scheveningen and came to London at an early age to work for the Dutch painter George Geldorp. He was ‘imployed to paint for Oliver Cromwell a prospect of the Fleet before Mardyke when it was taken in 1657’. A portrait of Cromwell holding a baton with a sea battle in the background, attributed to Sailmaker, was in the Haworth Sale, Christie’s, 14 December 1923, lot 11. In 1708 he was commissioned by Colonel John Lovett MP to paint the second Eddystone Lighthouse, a wooden construction designed by John Rudyerd. Sailmaker made four versions of this painting, of which three have survived (National Maritime Museum, London; two in the Sotheby’s Sale, London, 8 April 1998, lot 1). His work is of an uneven quality, generally naive but neatly executed. The merits of his paintings lie first and foremost in their documentary qualities. He portrayed ships (‘An East Indiaman of the Time of King William III’ and ‘HMS Britannia in two positions’ both in the National Maritime Museum, London) and recorded the actions of the English fleet (‘The Battle of Malaga, 13 August 1704’, National Maritime Museum, London), adding to the historical subjects such traditional elements of imaginary seascapes as sea creatures. His painting of the Eddystone Lighthouse, destroyed by fire in 1755, is a topographical record of a structure that no longer exists.
View paintings by Isaac Sailmaker
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