“Ships That Pass in the Night” — RMS Titanic by Moonlight with RMS Olympic on the Horizon
Andrew Grant Kurtis (British, b. 1950) — Oil on Canvas (late 20th c.)

Description (key portion lines) 🌙🌊

• Monumental, collector-grade maritime nocturne: Titanic underway under a full moon

• RMS Olympic appears in the far distance, adding rare narrative depth and White Star romance

• Traditional realist handling: tonal control, reflective moonlight, calm Atlantic stillness

• Signed, framed, and ready for a statement wall presentation

Subject & Medium 🎨🌊

A dramatic, large-scale marine masterpiece painting depicting RMS Titanic cutting through calm, inky Atlantic waters beneath a luminous moon. RMS Olympic, her near-identical sister ship, sits softened on the horizon—an elegant secondary presence that elevates the composition for connoisseurs.
Medium: Oil on canvas (late 20th century modern depiction) 🖌️
Style / School: Contemporary traditional / academic realism, treated as a nocturne—romantic historicism, atmosphere, tonal contrast, and reflective light on water ⚓️✨

Composition & Technique 🌙🖌️

This nocturne is built around light, distance, and stillness. The moon sits high behind broken cloud, casting a long silver path across the sea. Confident layered brushwork lifts deep blue-black water with shimmering highlights.
Titanic is rendered with strong architectural clarity—hull, superstructure, funnels—while tiny points of deck light provide scale and grandeur. Olympic is intentionally quieter, softened by atmospheric perspective, reading like an echo of White Star power in the distance.

About the Ships 🚢🕯️

RMS Titanic (Olympic-class, Harland & Wolff, Belfast) is presented in her most iconic guise: monumental and purposeful beneath moonlight—an image of Edwardian ambition.
RMS Olympic, the lead ship of the class and Titanic’s sister, expands the narrative: Titanic’s mythic moment set against the broader White Star legacy and the ocean-liner age.

Historical Significance 🕯️

On her maiden voyage (April 1912), Titanic struck an iceberg and sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912, with the loss of more than 1,500 lives. The disaster reshaped maritime safety and remains a lasting cultural touchstone.
Kurtis’s moonlit treatment deepens the mood—icon and elegy in one image. 🌙⚓️

About the Artist 🎨

Andrew Grant Kurtis (British, b. 1950) is known for atmospheric landscapes, cityscapes, and especially nocturnesexecuted in a traditional realist manner. This work shows his hallmark strengths: restrained palette, tonal depth, and natural reflected light with a cinematic presence.

Signed ✍️

Signed lower left: “A. Grant Kurtis”

Framed 🪙🖼️

Presented in a substantial heavy gilt wood frame with applied rococo-style ornamentation—bold, gallery-like presence that amplifies the moonlit palette.

Dimensions (Framed) 📏

120.7 cm (W) × 100.5 cm (H) × 10.5 cm (D)

Provenance 🧾✨

• Commissioned directly from the artist

• Private Wiltshire collection

• Evidence of theatrical association/handling, including handwritten label:
  “Ships That Pass in the Night (Renegades Theatre) Ilford”
  plus white chalk inventory/handling markings including “523”

• Subsequently sold via a notable southern shire auction house 🔨

• Curated by Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD

Exhibition History 🏛️

Privately loaned &  exhibited: Famous Lord Hill Museum, January 2026
Exhibition title: “Moonlit Giants: Titanic & the Great Ocean Liners”

Why You’ll Love It 💙🌙

✅ Monumental, room-anchoring impact
✅ Refined moonlit atmosphere and reflective water handling
✅ Titanic + Olympic narrative depth (rare connoisseur appeal)
✅ Cross-collecting desirability
✅ High-end presentation in a substantial gilt frame

Condition Report 🎨✨

Overall: Good decorative condition; presents strongly at normal viewing distance.
Frame: Various repairs with chips/losses and areas of cracking; recent overpainting consistent with restorative enhancement to maintain strong display impact.