Florence was a popular Grand Tour destination. The Italian city’s elegant central square was a must-see for tourists, just as it is today.

Devon-born artist Thomas Patch painted popular Italian landscapes, including many of Florence. Patch sold some of these to young British men, as souvenirs of their Grand Tour. Patch and the Plymothian artist Joshua Reynolds were room-mates in Rome.

About the exhibition:

People travel for different reasons – from exploration and scientific discovery, to trade and colonial exploitation. Some choose to travel as tourists, others are forced to migrate. The gallery features original artefacts from the voyages of Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh, Captain James Cook, Charles Darwin, Gertrude Benham, Scott of the Antarctic and many others. An animated globe highlighting key journeys forms the gallery’s spinning centrepiece. Interactive touchscreens let you explore dozens more surprising journeys that began in Plymouth.

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: The Box, Plymouth, Devon
Material: Oil on canvas
Artist: Thomas Patch (1725–1782)
Date: 1763

Image Details
Date: 18 September 2025
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/16s
ISO: 1000
Licence: Image of a ‘The Box’ asset. This image cannot be licensed.

About the exhibition:

People travel for different reasons – from exploration and scientific discovery, to trade and colonial exploitation. Some choose to travel as tourists, others are forced to migrate. The gallery features original artefacts from the voyages of Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh, Captain James Cook, Charles Darwin, Gertrude Benham, Scott of the Antarctic and many others. An animated globe highlighting key journeys forms the gallery’s spinning centrepiece. Interactive touchscreens let you explore dozens more surprising journeys that began in Plymouth.

Image Details
Date: 18 September 2025
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Telephoto Camera 52mm ƒ/2.4
Focal Length: 52mm
Aperture: ƒ/2.4
Shutter Speed: 1/30s
ISO: 500
Licence: Image of a ‘The Box’ asset. This image cannot be licensed.

About the exhibition:

People travel for different reasons – from exploration and scientific discovery, to trade and colonial exploitation. Some choose to travel as tourists, others are forced to migrate. The gallery features original artefacts from the voyages of Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh, Captain James Cook, Charles Darwin, Gertrude Benham, Scott of the Antarctic and many others. An animated globe highlighting key journeys forms the gallery’s spinning centrepiece. Interactive touchscreens let you explore dozens more surprising journeys that began in Plymouth.

Image Details
Date: 18 September 2025
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/59s
ISO: 250
Licence: Image of a ‘The Box’ asset. This image cannot be licensed.

The sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) is a parasitic lamprey native to the Northern Hemisphere. It is sometimes referred to as the “vampire fish”.

It was likely introduced to the Great Lakes region through the Erie Canal in 1825 and the Welland Canal in 1919 where it has attacked native fish such as lake trout, lake whitefish, chub, and lake herring. Sea lampreys are considered a pest in the Great Lakes region as each individual has the potential of killing 40 pounds of fish through its 12–18 month feeding period.

About the exhibition:

People travel for different reasons – from exploration and scientific discovery, to trade and colonial exploitation. Some choose to travel as tourists, others are forced to migrate. The gallery features original artefacts from the voyages of Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh, Captain James Cook, Charles Darwin, Gertrude Benham, Scott of the Antarctic and many others. An animated globe highlighting key journeys forms the gallery’s spinning centrepiece. Interactive touchscreens let you explore dozens more surprising journeys that began in Plymouth.

Image Details
Date: 18 September 2025
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/60s
ISO: 125
Licence: Image of a ‘The Box’ asset. This image cannot be licensed.

The long-spined bullhead (Taurulus bubalis), also known as the long-spined sea-scorpion, and the long-spined scorpion fish is a coastal fish of the sculpin family Cottidae, inhabiting marine waters of Europe.

About the exhibition:

People travel for different reasons – from exploration and scientific discovery, to trade and colonial exploitation. Some choose to travel as tourists, others are forced to migrate. The gallery features original artefacts from the voyages of Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh, Captain James Cook, Charles Darwin, Gertrude Benham, Scott of the Antarctic and many others. An animated globe highlighting key journeys forms the gallery’s spinning centrepiece. Interactive touchscreens let you explore dozens more surprising journeys that began in Plymouth.

Image Details
Date: 18 September 2025
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/49s
ISO: 80
Licence: Image of a ‘The Box’ asset. This image cannot be licensed.

About the exhibition:

People travel for different reasons – from exploration and scientific discovery, to trade and colonial exploitation. Some choose to travel as tourists, others are forced to migrate. The gallery features original artefacts from the voyages of Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh, Captain James Cook, Charles Darwin, Gertrude Benham, Scott of the Antarctic and many others. An animated globe highlighting key journeys forms the gallery’s spinning centrepiece. Interactive touchscreens let you explore dozens more surprising journeys that began in Plymouth.

Image Details
Date: 18 September 2025
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/49s
ISO: 100
Licence: Image of a ‘The Box’ asset. This image cannot be licensed.

About the exhibition:

People travel for different reasons – from exploration and scientific discovery, to trade and colonial exploitation. Some choose to travel as tourists, others are forced to migrate. The gallery features original artefacts from the voyages of Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh, Captain James Cook, Charles Darwin, Gertrude Benham, Scott of the Antarctic and many others. An animated globe highlighting key journeys forms the gallery’s spinning centrepiece. Interactive touchscreens let you explore dozens more surprising journeys that began in Plymouth.

Image Details
Date: 18 September 2025
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/48s
ISO: 320
Licence: Image of a ‘The Box’ asset. This image cannot be licensed.

This decorative crest was used at the Dockyard for ceremonial ship launches for many years before 1892.

From the Exhibition “Port of Plymouth” at The Box, Plymouth, Devon

About the exhibition:

Your journey begins from the moment you enter the gallery, with a large-scale audio visual introduction narrated by Dawn French. The collections bring to life a story that spans thousands of years, from ancient Bronze Age settlements, to its growth into a powerhouse of trade and commerce and into today’s bustling maritime hub

Image Details
Date: 18 September 2025
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/30s
ISO: 640
Licence: Image of a ‘The Box’ asset. This image cannot be licensed.

Leonora Carrington’s large bronze sculpture at the centre of North Hall welcomes you to explore the exhibition Forbidden Territories: 100 Years of Surreal Landscapes, which is on view in the galleries upstairs.

Carrington’s long career spans the first generation of Surrealist artists through to today, and represents the global reach of Surrealism.

Born in Britain, she met Max Ernst in the 1930s who introduced her to the circle of Surrealist artists in London and Paris. She later moved to Mexico, working among the Mexican Surrealists and drew inspiration from Mayan tradition and mythology, creating paintings you can see upstairs in the exhibition. Later in life, when painting became difficult due to arthritis, she turned to sculpting the figures she first painted in the 1950s. Based on a painting she made in 1953, the sculpture of El Bailarin (‘the dancer’) was made the year she passed away.

Object description
Type: Sculpture
Location: The Box, Plymouth, Devon
Material: Bronze
Artist: Leonora Carrington (1917-2011)
Date: 2011

Image Details
Date: 18 September 2025
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/50s
ISO: 400
Licence: Image of a ‘The Box’ asset. This image cannot be licensed.

Caption reads:

“My Grandpa started as an apprentice ship builder in the dockyard but following an accident he had to find a new profession.

He trained as an accountant and moved up the social scale. These watercolours were his pride and joy showing the house he bought and representing how far he had come.”

Jyll Bradley

About the exhibition:

How do family stories shape us, and how can archives help tell those stories? When artist Jyll Bradley started planning her ‘Running and Returning’ exhibition with The Box she had no idea she would find records about her family in the collections. Although brought up in rural Kent, Bradley’s adoptive family have strong links with Plymouth and she spent many summers in the South West as a child. This series of display cases in our Active Archives gallery combines archival records with personal items and memories, as Bradley explores how her childhood experiences have influenced her identity and practice, and provides insights into some of her ancestors, including her grandfather Leonard Turpin Nicholls (1893-1984), who lived in Plymouth and was a Fire Warden during World War II when the city was heavily bombed.

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: The Box, Plymouth, Devon
Material: Watercolour
Artist: William Darton
Date: 1928

Image Details
Date: 18 September 2025
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Telephoto Camera 52mm ƒ/2.4
Focal Length: 52mm
Aperture: ƒ/2.4
Shutter Speed: 1/59s
ISO: 160
Licence: Image of a ‘The Box’ asset. This image cannot be licensed.