John Christian Schetky (August 11, 1778 - January 28, 1874), Scottish marine painter, descended from an old Transylvanian family, was born in Edinburgh.
He studied art under Alexander Nasmyth, and after having travelled on the continent he settled in Oxford, and taught for six years as a drawing-master. In 1808 he obtained a post in the military college, Great Marlow, and three years later he was appointed professor of drawing in the naval college, Portsmouth, where he had ample opportunities for the study of his favourite marine subjects. From 1836 to 1855 he held a similar professorship at the East India Company's Military Seminary, Addiscombe.
To the Royal Academy exhibitions he contributed at intervals from 1805 to 1872, and he was represented at the Westminster Hall competition of 1847 by a large oil painting of the Battle of La Hogue. He was marine painter to George IV, William IV and Queen Victoria.
Among his published works were the illustrations to Lord John Manners's Cruise in Scotch Waters, and a volume of photographs from his pictures and drawings issued in 1867 under the title of Veterans of the Sea.
One of his best works, the Loss of the Royal George, painted in 1840, is in the Tate Gallery, and the United Service Club possesses another important marine subject from his brush. He died in London on the 28th of January 1874. A memoir by his daughter was published in 1877.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.