John Stobart 1929 - 2023 John Stobart was born in Leicester, the son of a Chemist who worked for Boots Ltd. He struggled academically but he showed promise artistically and managed to secure a place at the Derby School of Art. From there, where he was very successful, he gained a scholarship to study for five years at the Royal Academy Schools in London. He told me that most of his fellow students at the Royal Academy came from a higher social background - they had money, whereas he used his talents to supplement his income. London was, in the forties and fifties, a very busy port and John would go down to the river, paint ships then take his paintings to the company offices and try to sell them for display in the company boardroom. He was quite successfully so much so, that he was able to turn up at the barracks to do his national service in a spankng new Morris Minor 1000! After completing his National service he took a ship to Africa to visit his father who had emigrated to Southern Rhodesia. He made sketches of the twelve ports where the ship called on the way out and it was then that he decided that he would concentrate his artistic efforts on maritime subjects. John emigrated to Canada in 1957 and it was in Montreal where he made a start on making a living in art. So how did I meet him? Well, in 1998 I told my old primary school friend, who was then living in Vancouver, that I was planning to visit Gloucester, Massachusetts for three weeks and the purpose of my visit was to paint with my American painting buddy, Marilyn. As I would not be far from Boston he suggested that I look up an artist friend of his - a certain John Stobart. "Never heard of him" I said. "Oh, he's big time in the states. He does TV Shows, writes books, he sells for big money and he has a gallery in Boston". Brian (my friend ) told me that he had met John Stobart quite by chance back in 1959 when he and his brother, who were then at McGill university studying medicine, paid a visit to a section of the newly constructed St Lawrence Seaway, to see the Queen sail by in the Royal Yacht, Britannia. Sketching the scene was John Stobart. They fell into conversation, found that they were both from England and both lived in Montreal. But John was then literally, a starving artist. Feeling sorry for John, my friend had given him a white coat, loaned him a stethoscope and for almost two years, John got his meals in the Universaity Refractory at much reduced prices. John and Brian became lifelong friends. To cut a long story short, when I got to Gloucester I made contact with John Stobart, told him of my relationship with Brian and was immediately invited to stay with him down in Westport. I hired a car and drove down to meet with the by now extremely famous painter who had made a career painting detailed historical pictures of harbours worldwide, many of them featuring sailing ships. And they sell for mega bucks. $1 million each and he painted (when I stayed with him) six huge canvases per annum! Johns' artwork is well researched and meticulously executed. He's made a lot of money but he ploughs a lot back into the art world via Trust giving financial assistance to young recently qualified art students who are trying to get established at the start of their careers. We last met in Derby a couple of years ago when a retrospective exhibition of his work was held. At eighty eight he was still working!