This dictionary is the most comprehensive work of reference on the ship portraitists and marine artists who worked in Liverpool between the late eighteenth century and the present day. It includes 65 known portraitists and marine artists and an appendix of over a dozen other locally-based painters who produced an occasional marine work and about half a dozen possible marine artists who may have worked, visited or have been temporarily resident in the port. It is organised alphabetically by surname. Each entry includes a full biography of the artist; a summary of their main subjects, style and range of work; details of the main UK and US museums holding their paintings; and the principal published sources.
The dictionary includes 70 illustrations which are typical examples of the work of each of the main artists. These included: Samuel and Miles Walters, Joseph Heard, Robert Salmon, Francis Hustwick, William Jackson, John Jenkinson, Sam Brown, Odin Rosenvinge, Thomas Dove, William G Yorke and William H Yorke.