Nicholas M. Condy (1816-1851)

Nicholas Matthews Condy was the son of English landscape artist Nicholas Condy (1793-1857) and while both achieved some acclaim in their lifetimes; the two are sometimes confused with each other. For this reason Nicholas Matthews Condy is sometimes referred to as Nicholas Condy the Younger.

N.M. Condy was born at Union Street, Plymouth, in 1818. He attended the Mount Radford School in Exeter and later studied under The Reverend C. Thomas of Lew Trenchard. He had intended to pursue a military career but pivoted to art, becoming a professor of painting in Plymouth. Condy's brush turned to the sea, finding inspiration in the ships of the great port city in which he lived.

Condy's work attracted early admiration from the Earl of Egremont, patron of J.M.W. Turner and his work was sought after within his lifetime. Condy exhibited three maritime works at the Royal Academy from 1842 to 1845. Unfortunately he died suddenly and prematurely, at the age of only thirty-three.

Two of Nicholas M. Condy's maritime paintings are included in the collection of the Royal Maritime Museum, Greenwich.