Hand-Painted Fine Art Reproductions of Famous Paintings

National Maritime Museum Greenwich, London, museum of maritime history, with ship models, navigational instruments, and relics relating to distinguished sailors and events. It is situated on the south bank of the River Thames and was established in 1934. The museum incorporates three distinct elements: the National Maritime Museum, which originated in the 18th century as the Royal Naval Museum; the Royal Observatory, instituted by Charles II in 1675 and designed by Sir Christopher Wren; and the Queen??™s House, a Palladian-style villa designed by Inigo Jones in approximately 1614 for the French Princess (and future English Queen) Henrietta Maria. The museum??™s original holdings have been substantially expanded by gifts and purchases, the most notable being the important collections of paintings and of maritime and scientific archive material belonging to the wealthy Scots shipowner Sir James Caird, who died in 1954.

The fine art collections are among the most important of their kind and include the largest group of 17th-century Dutch marine painting in the world. There is also a superb representation of British marine painting ranging from the 18th to the 20th centuries, featuring works by Joseph Mallord William Turner, Sir Peter Lely, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and Thomas Gainsborough.

Navigational instruments, charts, uniforms, swords and medals, and decorative arts also form a significant part of the museum??™s permanent holdings, while in the Royal Observatory there are displays relating to astronomy and the measurement of time.