Ships That Pass In the Night RMS Titanic Under Nocturnal Moon with RMS Olympic





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Description


Andrew Grant Kurtis (British, 20th/21st Century)

Ships That Pass in the Night

Large Signed RMS Titanic and Olympic Moonlit Marine Oil Painting

Highlights

• Monumental signed maritime nocturne by British artist Andrew Grant Kurtis.
• Depicts RMS Titanic underway beneath a luminous nocturnal moon.
• Distant White Star Line vessel traditionally identified as RMS Olympic.
• Original late-20th-century oil painting on canvas.
• Atmospheric palette of deep blues, smoky greys and silvery highlights.
• Dramatic treatment of moonlight and reflections across the Atlantic.
• Signed “A. Grant Kurtis” lower left.
• Reverse label records the title Ships That Pass in the Night.
• Handwritten reference to Renegades Theatre, Ilford.
• Commissioned directly from the artist, according to supplied provenance.
• Private Wiltshire collection provenance.
• Presented in a substantial ornate giltwood frame.
• Privately exhibited at the Famous Lord Hill Museum in January 2026.

Introduction

A monumental late-20th-century maritime nocturne by the British artist Andrew Grant Kurtis, depicting RMS Titanic moving across a calm Atlantic beneath a luminous moon.

The liner’s illuminated superstructure and four funnels rise prominently against the night sky, while a second White Star Line vessel appears upon the distant horizon. This background ship is traditionally identified as RMS Olympic, Titanic’s near-identical sister and the lead vessel of the Olympic class.

Entitled Ships That Pass in the Night, the painting combines historical maritime imagery with Kurtis’s characteristic interest in darkness, reflected light and atmospheric distance.

This is an imagined and elegiac interpretation rather than a literal reconstruction of Titanic’s final night. The actual night of 14–15 April 1912 was moonless.

Catalogue Details

Artist: Andrew Grant Kurtis

Nationality: British

Period: Late 20th century

Title: Ships That Pass in the Night

Medium: Oil on canvas

Subject: RMS Titanic under moonlight with a distant ocean liner

Distant vessel: Traditionally identified as RMS Olympic

Style: Contemporary traditional marine painting and nocturne

Signature: Signed “A. Grant Kurtis” lower left

Reverse label: “Ships That Pass in the Night (Renegades Theatre) Ilford”

Additional markings: White chalk inventory and handling markings, including “523”

Frame: Substantial ornate giltwood frame

Catalogue Note

Kurtis structures the composition around three principal elements: the moon, Titanic and the long reflection of light across the water.

The moon occupies the upper sky behind broken cloud, casting a broad silvery path towards the foreground. This descending light connects the sky, ship and sea while establishing the painting’s strong vertical movement.

Titanic is presented with substantial architectural clarity. The dark hull, pale superstructure and four funnels remain legible against the surrounding atmosphere, while small points of deck illumination convey the vessel’s enormous scale.

The distant liner is deliberately softened through atmospheric perspective. Its reduced scale and hazy outline make it appear almost as an echo of the principal ship.

The second vessel has traditionally been identified as RMS Olympic. Because Titanic and Olympic were closely related in appearance, and because the distant ship is rendered on a small scale, this identification cannot be confirmed from visual evidence alone. It should be understood as part of the supplied interpretation unless supported by an artist’s inscription or documentary statement.

The sea is built through layered blue-black passages and controlled lighter strokes. Reflections across the water create movement without disrupting the prevailing stillness.

Rather than relying upon the spectacle of Titanic’s sinking, Kurtis presents the liner intact and underway. The painting is contemplative and commemorative, allowing the ship’s later history to remain implied rather than directly illustrated.

RMS Titanic

RMS Titanic was constructed by Harland & Wolff in Belfast for the White Star Line.

She was the second of three Olympic-class liners, following RMS Olympic and preceding Britannic. The ships represented an ambitious combination of scale, engineering, comfort and transatlantic passenger service.

Titanic departed Southampton for New York on her maiden voyage on 10 April 1912. After calling at Cherbourg and Queenstown, now Cobh, she continued into the North Atlantic.

At 11.40 p.m. on 14 April, Titanic struck an iceberg. She sank approximately two hours and forty minutes later during the early hours of 15 April, with the loss of more than 1,500 passengers and crew.

The disaster prompted inquiries on both sides of the Atlantic and contributed to major developments in maritime safety, including the first International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea in 1914.

Titanic has since become one of the most widely recognised ships in history, occupying an enduring place within maritime scholarship, literature, film, museum culture and specialist collecting.

The Moonlit Setting

The painting should not be interpreted as a historically exact depiction of Titanic’s final night.

Contemporary evidence and later scientific accounts establish that the night of the collision was clear, exceptionally calm and moonless. Kurtis’s large moon is therefore an artistic and symbolic device rather than a literal reconstruction.

Its light creates atmosphere and visual structure while introducing themes of distance, memory, fate and silence. The calm sea and intact ship similarly position the work as a retrospective elegy rather than a disaster scene.

RMS Olympic

RMS Olympic was the lead vessel of the Olympic class and Titanic’s elder sister.

Unlike Titanic, Olympic enjoyed a long operational career. She entered service in 1911, served as a troopship during the First World War and later returned to transatlantic passenger service.

The presence of a vessel identified as Olympic expands the painting beyond a single-ship portrait. It places Titanic within the broader story of White Star’s Olympic-class liners and the great age of North Atlantic passenger travel.

The title Ships That Pass in the Night reinforces the emotional and narrative relationship between the two vessels, whether the distant liner is understood literally as Olympic or more generally as a symbolic companion.

The Artist

Andrew Grant Kurtis is a British contemporary painter born in London.

Published gallery biographies record that he studied at London Technical College, gaining a qualification connected with the Society of Industrial Artists and Designers. He subsequently studied graphic design and art history at the Central School of Art and Design, completing a Bachelor of Design degree with honours and receiving a Master of Arts degree in 1977.

Kurtis is known particularly for atmospheric landscapes, river scenes, city views and nocturnes. His paintings frequently explore the interaction of darkness with reflected or artificial light.

Ships That Pass in the Night is unusually ambitious in scale and subject. It combines his established interest in moonlit atmosphere with one of the most recognisable maritime images of the modern era.

Although some market references list the artist as born in 1950, an independently authoritative birth record has not been located during the present research. His artist line is therefore catalogued conservatively as British, 20th/21st century.

Signature And Reverse Markings

Signed lower left:

“A. Grant Kurtis”

The reverse retains a handwritten label reading:

“Ships That Pass in the Night (Renegades Theatre) Ilford”

White chalk markings upon the reverse framing members include the number “523” and additional inventory or handling notations.

The label provides strong support for the title. Its reference to Renegades Theatre indicates an association with the Ilford theatre company or its premises, although it does not establish the precise purpose, date or duration of that connection.

Provenance And Exhibition History

Commissioned directly from the artist, according to supplied provenance

Private collection, Wiltshire

Associated label for Renegades Theatre, Ilford

Subsequently sold through a southern English auction house, according to supplied provenance

Acquired by Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD

Privately loaned & exhibited at the Famous Lord Hill Museum, January 2026

Exhibition: Moonlit Giants: Titanic and the Great Ocean Liners

The original commission and auction history are recorded according to the information supplied with the painting. Any invoices, correspondence, auction records or artist documentation should be retained with the work.

Dimensions

Framed: 120.7 cm wide × 100.5 cm high

Depth: approximately 10.5 cm

The monumental scale and substantial frame give the painting commanding wall presence.

Framing

Presented in a heavy giltwood frame with applied rococo-style ornamentation.

The deep moulded profile creates an imposing architectural surround, while the warm gilt finish provides an effective contrast with the cool blue and silver nocturne palette.

The frame has received restorative attention, including recent overpainting intended to improve visual continuity.

Condition Report

The painting is in good overall decorative condition and presents strongly at normal viewing distance.

No major damage to the visible painted image has been reported. The surface has not been examined under ultraviolet light or subjected to scientific or specialist conservation analysis during the present cataloguing.

The ornate frame has undergone various repairs and displays chips, losses and areas of cracking consistent with its construction, handling and use.

The gilt surface has been recently overpainted as part of its restorative presentation. This should be understood as a later decorative intervention rather than an original untouched finish.

The reverse retains labels, chalk numbers and handling marks associated with its collection and display history.

Photographs form an integral part of the condition report and should be examined carefully before purchase.



Reserve: $8,910.00

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