Philip Ouless

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Philip Ouless

Self-portrait

Philip Ouless (1817–1885) was Jersey's most celebrated marine painter, and the only one of the trio of famous 19th century 'Jersey' artists - the others were Jean Le Capelain and John Everett Millais - who was actually born in the island. The son of an auctioneer, his grandparents emigrated from Coutances, Normandy to escape the French Revolution and Philip was born in St Helier

This sketch of St Aubin’s Bay was made in September 1873. The sketch shows St Matthew's Church and the windmill and coastal tower at Bel Royal. The windmill has long since disappeared, the coastal tower was blown up by the Germans during the Occupation, but the church remains and is now usually known as the 'Glass Church', because of the magnificent collection of Lalique glass which was used when the interior was refurbished. There were almost no buildings on the shoreline between Millbrook and Saint Aubin in the distance. Today, from the church westwards there is an almost unbroken line of buildings

This is said to be Jersey's oldest surviving photograph: An 1845 daguerreotype in the collection of La Société Jersiaise. It has been attributed to Philip Ouless and described as a self-portrait. While Ouless may well have taken the photograph - he advertised a portraiture service in the same year - it seems most unlikely that it was a self-portrait. He was 28 years old at the time and all portraits of him show him as thin in the face.

Paris studies

Philip John Ouless studied painting in Paris, then returned to St Helier where he established himself as a marine, landscape and portrait painter. He received numerous commissions from ship owners and masters, benefiting from the 19th-century boom in shipbuilding. As well as the new paddle steamers, Ouless painted early racing yachts.

Ouless’ views of Jersey were engraved and sold to the increasing number of visitors to the island. He recorded the visit of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert to Jersey in 1846 in eleven watercolours, which were published the following year. Ouless also recorded a number of events, particularly shipwrecks, which were reproduced in the Illustrated London News. He died at 53 New Street, St Helier in 1885. His son Walter Ouless RA (1848-1933) became a portrait painter. Walter's daughter Catherine (1879-1961) was also an accomplished artist.

Ouless advertises his new portrait service in 1845

Photography

Philip Ouless was not only an accomplished artist, but he was a pioneering photographer, introducing the daguerrotype process to the island in 1845 after a visit to France, during which he received instructions from the first pupil of Louis Daguerre, who invented the process which created the first permanent photographs in 1839. There had been a demonstration of daguerreotypes in Jersey the following year.

The process, which produced a one-off image on a silvered plate, was the first photographic process in general circulation. It was widely used for commercial portraiture in the 1840s but could not survive the development of paper-based photographs which could be produced an unlimited number of times from negatives. The daguerrotype photograph of Ouless himself was found in a collection of his son, Clarence Ouless's photographs given to La Société Jersiaise in 2006, and is Jersey's oldest surviving photograph. It is not known whether it is a self portrait or was taken by one of his contemporaries, Henry Mullins. Clarence Ouless bought the complete collection of Mullins' negatives after his death, but the daguerreotype, together with some unexposed plates of similar vintage, was in an envelope which is thought to bear Clarence Ouless's handwriting, and if the date when it was taken was 1845, this was three years before Mullins set up in business in Jersey, using the calotype photographic process, which used negatives to produce paper prints.

No other photographs of or by Philip Ouless survive, but it is unlikely that an artist of his standing would have failed to attract business with the advertisement he placed in 1845 offering his new portrait service.

Ouless works acquired by La Société Jersiaise
Ouless etchings of the visit of Queen Victoria to Jersey in 1846
Ouless views of Jersey, a book published by Philip Ouless in the 1860s

Family tree

Descendants of Philippe Joseph Oulez Added 2016

Gallery

This gallery contains a large collection of Ouless works - click on any image to see a full-size version. Other Ouless works can be found by following the three links above

The artist in his studio
Ouless's two sons outside the family home at 53 New Street. We have not been able to find any record of the name Paradise Row in Jersey street directories or census returns. Philip Ouless sold collections of etchings with the imprint '53 Paradise Row' and it may be that he believed this to be a more impressive address than 53 New Street
Philip Ouless in 1875, photographed by his son Clarence
Philip Ouless - a portrait towards the end of his life

Maritime paintings

Alexandra off the Casquets
Brig GDT
Dewdrop off Corbiere, 1879
Amazon on fire in the Bay of Biscay
Yacht Northern
Clipper Medina
A fishing boat - attributed to Ouless
Barque Patricia
Brigantine Jessie
Brig Kanagona
The paddle steamer Normandy off Corbiere
St Peter of Jersey
Century
Champon
Circassian, master John Amy
Rambler off Cape Town
Rescue of London - master Captain George Messervy
RMS Courier under the command of Captain Goodridge
RMS Dispatch off La Moye
A sailing ship to the rescue of a stricken paddle steamer
Ships off a coastal keep
Collier and Ladybird at St Helier
Courier approaches St Helier pierhead
Cygnus
HMS Dasher to the rescue of RMS Dispatch in 1853
HMS Dasher to the rescue of RMS Dispatch
The day after the shipwreck of Silver Key in the West Indies
Dispatch at St Helier, 1849
Eclipse off Mont Orgueil, 1863
Electra, 1866
Flying Scud off Noirmont, 1862
Francis John off the Casquets
Quiz of Jersey
Percy Douglas of Liverpool
Gaspe of Jersey attacks the US Navy ship Diomede in 1814
Gemini of Jersey, 1864
Guernsey brig Agilis
Hebe of Jersey off Corbiere, 1874
HMS Dasher to the rescue of RMS Dispatch
Ironclad battleships
Ladybird at Shoreham
Ketch Gazelle off Corbiere, 1874
Ketches off Mont Orgueil
Unidentified ship off Naples
Homely off Paspebiac
Seabird
Superb
Wonder
Masonic in 1861
Wreck of Express
Wreck of Express
Express off the Casquets
Wreck of the Flora
A Gaudin family clipper
Homely at Paspebiac
Markwell, commanded by Thomas Le Dain, en route to Canada in 1833
Masonic off the Needles
A merchantman in a storm
The topsail schooner Telegraph
A Royal Navy three-decker in 1871

Les Ecrehous

Ouless made several trips to Les Ecréhous not long before he died, to sketch and paint the offshore islets

Maitre Ile, Ecrehous
Ecrehous in 1880
Ecrehous in 1883
Ecrehous in 1882
Ecrehous in 1883
Ecrehous anchorage
Maitre Ile
Maitre Ile ruins
Marmouttiere, Ecrehous
Marmouttiere

Miscellaneous subjects

Jacques Jandron (c1781- )
Jersey Harbour in Newfoundland
John William Dupre (1790-1866)
Landscape with trees
Le Vaux
Market woman
Mary Ann Balleine (1796- )
Mrs Anne Picot
Peirson Place, 1836
Plemont Caves
Grouville Common race meeting, 1849
Major Francis Peirson
The Rev George Balleine (1786-1856)
View from South Hill, 1875
Coastal scene
Coastal scene
Coastal scene
Queen Victoria's arrival, 1846
Queen Victoria in Broad Street
Queen Victoria's departure
Collecting vraic
Capt Gedeon le Bas (1791- )
Thomas Sohier's farm
A country lane
A coastal tower
Corbiere
Sark
Le Couperon
La Corbiere
Beauport
Bouley Bay
Elizabeth Castle
Gorey Regatta
Icho Tower
This painting has been described as 'Gorey Common Races', but it is believed to depict a Militia parade on Grouville Common
St Brelade's Church
St Aubin
St Ouen's Bay
St Brelade's Bay and the Sutton House
Elizabeth Castle
Gorey
Gorey
La Hougue Bie
Building Corbiere Lighthouse
Gaspe basin, 1868
Great Harbour Newfoundland
Lady by Fireplace
Alderney harbour
Regatta
Sir Walter Raleigh
The Royal Yacht Fairy passing a frigate and other shipping, watched by a boatload of sightseers. The Royal Standard flies at the Fairy’s mainmast, indicating that the Queen is actually on board, perhaps returning to Portsmouth from Osborne House in the gathering dusk of a beautiful summer’s day
A painting by Ouless of his sons
A rural scene in 1847
Tower No 8 at Gorey
Laying the foundation stone of Victoria College
Victoria College
Mont Orgueil
The Sark packet
Gorey by moonlight
The Hocquard family house overlooking St Aubin
A family portrait
Alderney
Beauport, showing the battery
Bouley Bay
Elysee