Peter Monamy

Peter Monamy
Peter Monamy, by Thomas Stubley, c 1730
Born	London 1681
Died	7 February 1749(1749-02-07) (aged 68) London
Movement	Maritime painting

Peter Monamy was an English marine painter who lived between 1681 and 1749.

Peter Monamy was baptised at the church of St Botolph’s-without-Aldgate, London, England, on 12 January 1681 (new style). He was the last of the five known children, all born in London, of Pierre, or Peter, Monamy, born circa 1650 in Guernsey, and his English wife, Dorothy Gilbert; and the grandson of André Monamy, 1612–1680, who had been a strongly committed Commonwealth Parliamentarian, and one of Guernsey's Governors, during the 1650s. Dorothy Gilbert, born 1660 in London, was the daughter of James Gilbert, who had been Master of the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers in 1670 and 1672. A marriage allegation, dated 22 October 1675, records the union of Peter Mon-Amy, of St Martin's in the Fields, and Dorothy Gilbert, of St Trinity in the Minory, with her father's consent, at All Hallowes in the Wall, London. Peter (Pierre) Mon-Amy's age is given as "abt 23", and Dorothy Gilbert's age as "abt 18". Their actual ages appear to have been 25 and 15.

The Monamy family had been prominent merchants and residents of Guernsey since the 1560s, and in the Channel Islands since at least the 1530s. The painter’s father, Pierre, who appears to have died in about 1685, had a brother named André, or Andrew, who was active in London as a merchant trader in salt and wool, during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. In December, 1696, Andrew Monamy, together with his cousin, Daniel Le Febvre, is described as "guardian" of the children of Peter (Pierre) Monamy, deceased. Andrew Monamy is also named in Admiralty archival records as having served as boatswain in 1710 on a 20 gun privateer named "La Chasse", owned by a syndicate of Guernsey merchants. Later in the same year Andrew is recorded as lieutenant on another privateer owned by Daniel Lefebvre and Andrew Mesurier of Guernsey. The gunner on this vessel, named "The Revenge of the Flying Sloop", was an Andrew Clark.

On 3 September 1696, Peter Monamy, aged 15, was bound as an apprentice for seven years by indenture to William Clark, a former (1687) Master of the Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers, one of London’s ancient guilds of craftsmen. Clark is recorded in several capacities in the London of the late 17th century, as a constable and juryman, with premises in Thames Street, and on London Bridge, and practised as what would today be called an interior decorator, with a thriving business. House decoration comprised a wide range of activities, including the provision of paintings as overdoors and overmantels, and on panelling, house murals on canvas as well as decorative sign-boards for trade establishments. William Clark died before January, 1704, when his will was proved.