Reginald Arthur Borstel

Reginald Arthur Borstel was born in Sydney, Australia, the son of a master mariner, John Henry Borstel. He originally served as a seaman and there is no record of him having any formal art training.

He became one of a group of artists employed by the Adelaide Photo Company of Sydney.  He worked from photographs to create oil paintings depicting ships in often stormy seas and his ship portraits were exhibited in the windows of the photographic studio.

He was often commissioned by ship captains and owners to record the last days of the great sailing ships. He worked from his studio in Sydney producing ship portraits which appeared on postcards, advertisements and posters.

He later moved to Newcastle where he specialised in portraits of sailing vessels. He was employed to paint ships after and for photographs, by Frederick Temple West, a Newcastle photographer, which were then signed by both parties.

Borstel was most active from 1890 to 1917.