Biographies

(Charles) Napier Hemy (1841 – 1837) He was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne. The family moved to Australia, but Napier Henry returned to England, worked on board a brig for a while and decided to enter the priesthood. He spent three years in a Dominican House in Newcastle upon Tyne and in a monastery in Lyon, France. Painting in his spare time, he decided to change vocations. He studied in Antwerp under Baron Leys and settled in London in 1870. In the early 1880s he moved to Falmouth in Cornwall, and from this point devoted his career to marine painting. He had his own boat, from which he sketched, living on board from time to time. He had two brothers who also painted, Bernard and Thomas.