Thomas Sewell Robins was a British painter of maritime themes. Born in Devonport, Devon

Devonport, Devon

Devonport, formerly named Plymouth Dock or just Dock, is a district of Plymouth in the English county of Devon, although it was, at one time, the more important settlement. It became a county borough in 1889...

, he was an early member of the New Water-Colour Society and the Institute of Painters in Water-Colours. He was admitted into the Royal Academy Schools on 22 April 1829 under the sponsorship of James Northcote

James Northcote

James Northcote RA , was an English painter.-Biography:He was born at Plymouth, and was apprenticed to his father, a poor watchmaker. In his spare time, he drew and painted. In 1769 he left his father and set up as a portrait painter. Four years later he went to London and was admitted as a pupil...

, a former pupil of Sir Joshua Reynolds

Joshua Reynolds

Sir Joshua Reynolds RA FRS FRSA was an influential 18th-century English painter, specialising in portraits and promoting the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. He was one of the founders and first President of the Royal Academy...

. Sewell traveled extensively on the Continent, visiting France in 1842, Holland and Italy in 1845, the Mediterranean c. 1850, Holland and the Rhine in 1857, France in 1858, and Antwerp in 1859. Failing health forced him to reduce his commitments in 1865-6. He died 9 August 1880, leaving his wife Elizabeth and a daughter.

Robins specialized in coastal marine subjects, working primarily in watercolors. He did some paintings, particularly some large scale yachting scenes in the Solent

Solent

The Solent is a strait separating the Isle of Wight from the mainland of England.The Solent is a major shipping route for passengers, freight and military vessels. It is an important recreational area for water sports, particularly yachting, hosting the Cowes Week sailing event annually...

. His work is the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum

Victoria and Albert Museum

The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...

, Birmingham Art Gallery and Museum, the British Museum

British Museum

The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...

, the City of Portsmouth Museum, Cartwright Hall

Cartwright Hall

Cartwright Hall is the civic art gallery in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, situated about a mile from the city centre in the Manningham district....

 (Bradford

Bradford

Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...

), Howarth Museum and Gallery (Accrington

Accrington

Accrington is a town in Lancashire, within the borough of Hyndburn. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, north of Manchester city centre and is situated on the mostly culverted River Hyndburn...

), Newport Art Gallery, the Williamson Art Gallery and Museum (Birkenhead

Birkenhead

Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...

), and the National Maritime Museum

National Maritime Museum

The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England is the leading maritime museum of the United Kingdom and may be the largest museum of its kind in the world. The historic buildings forming part of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site, it also incorporates the Royal Observatory, Greenwich,...

 at Greenwich

Greenwich

Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...

.

One painting of his in the National Maritime Museum dates from 1853 and is of HMS Assistance

HMS Assistance (1850)

HMS Assistance was an Arctic discovery barque of the Royal Navy, and the sixth vessel to carry the name. She began her life in 1835 as an Indian-built merchant vessel, was purchased in 1850 and participated in two Arctic expeditions before being abandoned in the ice in 1854.-Merchant Navy...

 moored in the Arctic

Arctic

The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...

ice.