Good Day Sirs and Madames,

I felt these images might be of interest to your group because the famous books are set in the time of the Napoleonic Wars...

I am the artist who was commissioned by W.W. Norton publishing to paint 21 new paintings for the official covers of their current paperback re-issue of the Aubrey-Maturin Series by Patrick O’Brian. This project was a remarkable, 3-year labor of love comprised of a luxuriant amount reading and research, in addition to the drawing, and painting. At the core of the joy was of course discovering the books, which I had previously known about but never read. The whole thing was life-changing, honestly.

While the series has always been associated with the revered, traditional paintings of the great British maritime painter Geoff Hunt, Norton’s head creative chose to go in a different direction and sought me out because my work references another equally strong tradition, The Golden Age of American Ilustration, when classic books were illustrated by painters such as Maxfield Parrish and N.C. Wyeth. 

I have just now joined reddit in order to share these with my fellow Patrick O’Brian devotees. The entire project, including the preparatory drawings, and some of the research and process can be seen at the link below. I hope you will enjoy them.

[https://www.matthewbenedictart.com/patrickobrian](https://www.matthewbenedictart.com/patrickobrian)

Godspeed and Safe Passage, me Hearties!

Matthew

Patrick O'Brian Aubrey-Maturin Series. Matthew Benedict "The HMS Leopard in the Ice." Gouache on illustration board, 30" x 20."