Hans Skalagard is a world renowned marine painter. He has been described as a "living legend" by art critics. Hans is a descendant of Vikings and was born in the Faeroe Islands of Denmark in 1924. He began painting at the age of 8, and at the age of 14 began to carry on the family's seafaring tradition, becoming an apprentice seaman on a square rigged ship. Hans grew in experience and served on merchant ships during World War II convoys. He survived the sinking of three ships in six years of the war, enabling him to draw on these experiences and paint a series of ten "North Atlantic Convoy Scenes".