John Evan RA Hodgson

John Evan Hodgson liked to hang around docks, sketchbook in hand, watching sailors and ships more than palaces. He once spent months in Egypt waiting for the light to hit the right angle on a fort wall—then painted British sailors inside it as if they belonged there, which no one had bothered to do before. If you’ve ever stood in front of a watercolour and felt the grit of salt spray, look up his 1884 sketch *British sailors in an Egyptian Fort at Alexandria*.