Once in a while one comes across artists with the same name. Earlier, I have blogged about JMW Turner as well as J Turner (Turner of Oxford) so today I want to look at the artists known as #JohnWard.

We will start with the earliest John Ward (1798-1849). Ward was a respected artist and considered one of the leading marine artists and ship painters of the early 19th century from Eastern England. His oils, watercolours and engravings of his paintings were regularly exhibited but appreciation for his work and talent came some years after his death. The watercolour shown below is of Bristol Harbour with St Mary’s Church, Redcliffe in the background. It is signed with his initials and dated 1844. There is an oil painting attributed to Ward from the same vantage although the shipping in the foreground is somewhat different. Possibly my watercolour might go to firming up the attribution.

We now move to the 20th century #JohnStantonWard (1919-2007). This Ward was a portrait painter, illustrator, and landscape painter. He was an illustrator for travel guides, Vogue magazine, advertisements for major companies, and numerous books by various authors. His portrait work covers royalty, businessmen, celebrities and government officials. My attribution of the piece below is a bit tenuous but I think plausible. The work although not signed has the #JTBurns&Co label a gallery which Ward was quite familiar with (William Ward , his son, worked as a framer for Burns & Co.) also the style is very like his illustrative works.

Two fine and interesting works .