For his contemporaries, the Danish painter Anton Melbye (1818 - 1875) was a celebrity in Europe. His fame was due to his unique seascapes: emotionally charged marine landscapes populated with sailing and steam ships that oscillate between naturalism and symbolism. Light-filled charcoal drawings further reveal the painter of the sea as a virtuoso landscape artist. Melbye studied in Copenhagen under Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg during the Golden Age of Danish painting. In Paris, he developed his own painting style, and along the Bosporus, he found his intense colors. The port city of Hamburg had a particularly large number of passionate collectors, and a significant portion of his oeuvre can still be found in private collections and museums in Hamburg. Recently, Melbye's work has been rediscovered. This first illustrated book on Melbye introduces an artist whose life and work span across Europe. A large portion of the images is published here for the first time.