Ludolf Bakhuizen was a German-born Dutch painter, draughtsman, calligrapher and printmaker. He was the leading Dutch painter of maritime subjects after Willem van de Velde the Elder and Younger left for England in 1672. He also painted portraits of his family and circle of friends.

By the time Bakhuizen painted this stormy picture the great tradition of Dutch 17th century seascape painting was nearing its end. Bakhuizen was particularly adept at recording the atmosphere of an inky sky. As well as painting marines, for which he is best known, the artist was a portrait painter and engraver. He was very successful during his lifetime, spending his long career in Amsterdam.

Hull Whalers in the Arctic is an oil painting of whaling ships in an icebound arctic sea with ship and crew in landing boats in front with other ships, one capsized on ice in background.

Binks is typical of many marine artists in belonging to a family of marine painters where the tradition was passed down from father to son. He died in 1852 aged fifty-three but was succeeded by his son Thomas A. Binks (fl.1840-60) who also became a prominent Hull artist.

His other works in the gallery include: Three paddle-steamers, 'Kingston', 'Prince Frederick' and 'Calder' of Selby in Hull Roads, The Three-Masted Barque, Halcyon of Hull, The Paddle Steamer 'Kingston of Hull' in the Humber Estuary and Caught in the Ice.

Charles Brooking is now regarded as the finest English marine painter of his generation. His achievements as a seascape painter can be compared with his 17th century Dutch predecessors. This magnificent seascape with its convincing rendering of a storm and beautifully observed shipping owes almost all of its merits to the inspiration of William van de Velde the Younger (1633-1707), especially in its composition and weather effects. The Baroque rhythms of the composition are entirely different from the calm of the Hull School Painters half a century later.

'View on the Grand Canal' by Antonio Canaletto, depicts a Venetian canal scene, with architectural detail and a view of canal life. Long perspective with strong sunlight on the facades on the left and strong shade on facades to right with storm clouds gathering top left.

The artist made many paintings of the Grand Canal, from slightly different viewpoints, but employing the same distinctive perspective. Canaletto was the most prolific of the Venetian vedutista or view painters, whose work depicted towns like Rome and Venice. Accurate paintings were in demand by patrons as souvenirs of their 'Grand Tours' of Italy.

Michael Ayrton was renowned as a painter, printmaker, sculptor and designer, and also as a critic, broadcaster and novelist. His varied output of sculptures, illustrations, poems and stories reveals an obsession with flight, myths, mirrors and mazes.

He was also a stage and costume designer, working with John Minton on the 1942 John Gielgud production of Macbeth at the age of nineteen, and a book designer and illustrator for Wyndham Lewis's The Human Age trilogy.

At the age of four Bellany began drawing the fishing boats in the village where he had lived and images of fishermen, fish, boats and the sea continued to figure in his paintings throughout his life. Following a visit to Buchenwald concentration camp in 1967 his paintings became quite complex, using animals as symbols for death, guilt and sexual obsession. In around 1973, however, his style loosened and his colour became more hectic: birds and humans often merged. In the Ferens' example, draughtsmanship has been sacrificed for a lavish painterly effect with a rich and thick use of oil paint.

De Beukelaer followed in the footsteps of his artistic uncle, Pieter Aetsen (1507/8-1575) who developed a new type of picture known as the genre piece, depicting scenes of everyday life and surroundings.

The detailed background is typically Flemish. The townscape has been painted with accuracy for the period, showing the landscape and location. We can also see in the far distance how the fresh fish were unloaded on the canal bank before being distributed by wheelbarrow to the fishmongers in the market.

Recent research from the Dutch National Museum for the History of Fishery has revealed that fish in particular were often used as sexual metaphors in such scenes.

Cutting out the Hermione depicts a famous historical incident that was painted by several artists. In 1797 the frigate Hermione of 36 guns was seized by mutineers at Puerto Rico and handed over to the Spaniards. Two years later in 1799 Captain Hamilton set out in six boats from the frigate Surprise to recapture the Hermione while she lay at anchor at Puerto Caballo. The Hermione was protected by two guard boats as well as by the shore batteries, and the attacking boats were heavily engaged. After six hours' fighting in the middle of the night the Spanish crew was overcome and forced to surrender. Dawson's painting was commissioned by William Millward in 1876 and was completed in just two months.

North Sea Incident is a sea level view of a dockside and keel and the rusting iron hull of liner in deep expressionist colours; shallow perspective with railings and sea at bottom edge.

Chesterman has said that, 'ships on land are a bit like a house at sea…boats operate between air and water. On land they seem curiously tense.'

North Sea Incident refers to the 1904 shelling of a flotilla of Hull trawlers by a Russian fleet, who mistook it for a Japanese submarine. People were killed and many boats sank. The small paper boats that float vulnerably alongside the huge tanker are symbolic of this incident.

Sailing Vessels, William Wright Dock, Hull is a marine painting of the schooner ships, Malcolm Miller and the Winston Churchill, moored in docks at Hull. The colours are muted under full winter sunlight. These 1960s topsail schooners were purpose built in a traditional manner to provide opportunities for young people to gain experience on a fully rigged sailing vessel.

David Jan Curtis was a commission painter for Federation of British Artists, lectured to art groups and taught part-time at Doncaster Faculty of Art and Design. He was elected a member of RSMA in 1983 and of ROI in 1988.

Ulysses and the Sirens is a variant on the neo-classical tradition of the late Victorian era, Draper's pictures often had a nautical theme; he was particularly fond of painting nymphs and mermaids. The subject of the Ferens' painting is taken from Greek legend, as described in Homer's Odyssey, the epic poem describing the adventures of Ulysses (Odysseus) on his journey home from Troy. Ulysses and his men had to sail past rocks where sirens sang, tempting sailors to their doom. To overcome the temptation, Ulysses ordered his crew to plug their ears and keep rowing, whilst he tied himself to the ship's mast. The image of the temptress frequently occurs in late Victorian art, often as little more than an excuse for eroticism.

Eurich's painting shows in moving detail the destructive force of the sea, as the broken remains of a small fishing vessel are buffeted against the jetty. The ironic title, Marine Harvest, reminds us that the 'harvest' from the sea, normally fish, can often be more sinister. In Marine Harvest each figure is involved in a separate struggle against the gale. The bell ringer is knocked off his feet by flying debris, while the figures in the foreground lean into the wind in their struggle to reach the wreckage.

The Scottish legend of 'The Selkie' a folk tale of the sea and the fishing communities in Scotland; with a fisherman that fell in love with a fairy that was part girl and part seal, and so always had to return to her former life as a seal.

Fraser spent time as the official artist on an Arctic Lapland expedition. He has a particular fascination for the sea, and for the myths and legends which surround it. Here, his semi-abstract style evokes the sea and mists of the Northern Isles, where the grey seals which crowd the rocky 'skerries' were called the Selkie Folk - humans under a spell who resumed their true form on Midsummer's Eve, when they cast off their seal skins and danced upon the shore.

Blue Seascape is a deep blue expressionist view of a Scottish harbour and pier end, with boats and a ship moored alongside, the brilliant red, white and yellow of their hulls reflected in the deep blue waters below and set against the dark side of the pier end. A dark blue (summer) evening sky extends from the low horizon of the pier above the crested waves of the coastal tideline.

His work was influenced by the School of Paris, where he studied under a French Government Scholarship, 1953–4. He taught at the Royal College of Art, 1957–83 and was elected RA in 1985 and later a member of the Royal Fine Art Commission in 1986.

Night Crossing is a low relief wood, metal and paint collage of steam boat, framed with metal propeller on outside of bottom left corner.

Originally one of the Kitchen Sink School of painters (depicting ordinary people in scenes of ordinary life), Fullard's interests changed considerably in the late 1950s. During the 1960s onwards, images of war and destruction of the innocent recur obsessively in Fullard's work. Fullard himself was severely wounded during the Second World War.

Militarism and ships and the sea were leading themes in Fullard’s work, which was always an exploration into unknown possibilities. He said that “the artist works towards the miracle of making visible that which apparently did not exist.”

Grimshaw is best-known today for his moonlit scenes of towns and docks, so evocative of the Victorian era. His style and subject matter changed very little during his career. This scene is taken from Prince's Dock Street. The dark silhouettes of the Dock Offices and the Wilberforce Monument contrast with the cheery glow emanating from the shop windows and street lamps. The Dock Offices, completed in 1871, now house the City's maritime collection; the Monument has been relocated and now stands on the other side of Queen's Gardens.

He was called a "remarkable and imaginative painter" by the critic and historian Christopher Wood in Victorian Painting (1999).

The starboard profile of storm tossed barque foundering off rocky coast, with masts broken and sail collapsed on the foremast, wreckage can be seen among the sea spray on the lower rocks, while shipwrecked crew climb the rocks above the waves to reach safety. This painting was the final work in a series of three.

Francis Hustwick was a 'decorative and marine' painter from Hull who settled in Liverpool about 1846. Competition from established maritime artists probably explains why he could only afford to live in the insalubrious dockside area, where contagious diseases were endemic. Tragically, he contracted typhus and died in Smithdown Road Workhouse.

Arthur William Devis was an English painter of history paintings and portraits.

This portrait depicts Captain Joseph Boulderson in a dark suit with brass buttoned coat and white cravat and high collar seated in a leather armchair.

Devis is noted for his involvement in the creation of the posthumous cult of Horatio Nelson. As she returned from Trafalgar, he went out to meet HMS Victory and was present on board the ship during the autopsy of Nelson's body conducted by Dr Beatty, the ship's surgeon. With the help of sketches he took at that time, he painted a heroic Death of Nelson, which proved a sensation.

Hubbard's paintings are always strong in composition and have a fresh simplicity that defies his painstaking draughtsmanship. The unusual colouring of this piece is a result of the two years that Hubbard devoted to experimenting with colour theories, often 'far into the early hours of the morning'. He had a very singular vision towards his work, being aware of but 'quite untouched by the Modernist movement'. The Ferens purchased Lobster Boats from the artist after he exhibited it at the 1933 Hull Spring exhibition. Hubbard was delighted with the sale, stating 'I am glad that you have chosen one of my favourites'.

Johnston was a successful Scottish painter who produced portraits and historical and genre scenes which were often full of pathos. The Press Gang is a fine example of narrative art, a type of painting that flourished in the Victorian age. Such pictures are really painted novels; it is no coincidence that the 19th century saw the heyday of the novel. Narrative paintings tell a story through the use of pictorial clues, their characters often posed in a dramatic tableau. Press Gangs were able to seize men, without warning, forcing enlistment into the Navy and were hated in most shipping towns, including Hull - Johnston describes this fear with half-hidden figures and a bridal couple stealing away in the background.

Westminster Bridge, London, Evening shows the Thames at Westminster in evening light, with a view of the grand mansions buildings, monuments and mooring posts along the right bank looking towards the profile of Westminster Abbey and the two west towers by Hawksmoor.

William James is said to have been an assistant to Canaletto (1697-1768) when he was working in London in the early 1750s. The eminent art historian Ellis Waterhouse noted, however, that the majority of James’ works are derived from the work of Samuel Scott (1703-72). This view of London is in the style popularised by Caneletto. It depicts the new Westminster bridge, reflecting the modern picturesque aspect of London’s river front.

The large photograph print is of the original installation of Two Sisters (1998) situated in the Humber Estuary.

Gallaccio is a British artist, who creates site-specific, minimalist installations and often works with organic matter (including chocolate, sugar, flowers and ice). Her use of organic materials results in natural processes of transformation and decay, meaning that Gallaccio is unable to predict the end result of her installations.