Military Oil Paintings

Military painting is a discipline of detail. A rivet line on a fuselage, the set of a soldier's shoulders on the third day of a battle, the way heavy sea breaks over a bow. Get those wrong and the picture is decoration; get them right and it holds a room.

What is in this collection

Around a hundred and seventy paintings across three eras. Aviation is the largest group: B-17s over occupied Europe, P-51s in a dogfight, Pacific air combat, machines painted with their markings legible. Naval covers battleships working through rough seas and fleets under a low sky. Land reaches from Union infantry at Gettysburg to the quieter moments between engagements, which are often the ones worth painting.

The palette is deliberately restrained. Smoke, steel, weather and a low sun do most of the work; nothing here is brightened for effect.

How each painting is made

Nothing here is printed. Each canvas is painted in oils after you order it, by an artist working from the reference on the page. That is why the lead time runs in weeks, and why no two are ever quite identical.

You set the dimensions rather than choosing from a fixed list. Three finishes are available: Simple for a clean, even surface, Texture for visible brushwork, and Museum for the heaviest impasto.

Choosing one for a room

Aviation and naval subjects want width: an aircraft or a ship needs air and sea around it, and a canvas wider than it is tall gives the composition room to breathe. These paintings suit a study, a library, a hallway or a club room, where someone can stand close enough to read the detail.

They carry weight in a room, so keep the wall around them plain. Tell us where it will hang and how much space you have, and we will suggest a proportion.

A specific aircraft, ship or unit

If you are looking for a particular airframe, hull number, regiment or squadron marking, send us what you have and an artist will tell you what can be done faithfully before anything is agreed. Shipping is free worldwide.