One of the pivotal British Pierhead painters, Joseph Semple painted portraits in oil of some of the last wooden sailing ships ever built. Nineteenth century shipyards in America and Belfast continued to build capable sailing ships in the traditional methods with wood while British yards were primarily working in iron and then steel. Semple held to the traditional methods of his profession. His commissioned paintings show broadside views of ships in action off his home of Belfast, Ireland. While scenes of Liverpool and other Irish sea ports have also been discovered, possibly staying true to his Irish roots, no picture yet has been found with an English headland by the artist.

In the matter of his divergent signatures, from the 1860s ...