Ernest Frederick Dade (1868–1935), later known as Ernst Dade, was an English painter, specializing in coastal and maritime subjects, and maker of model ships He was a member of the Staithes Group, based in the North Yorkshire fishing village of Staithes
Dade was born in Kensington, England Dade’s father, Frederick Dade (1836–1874), was a photographer, who married Matilda Toye (1835–1919) in 1859. Ernest had two older sisters and the family moved to Scarborough early in Ernest’s life He later had another two sisters and three brothers, one of whom, the youngest, Fred (1874–1908), was also a maritime artist.
His first job was as a deckhand on the American yacht, Dauntless] In 1885–1886, he studied at Scarborough School of Art, under Albert Strange. From the age of twenty, he studied at the Académie Julian in Paris. He later studied fresco and mural painting in the South of France
Dade and Nelson Dawson rented studios at Manresa Road, Chelsea.[4] By 1890, he was living at 8 West Bank, Seamer Road, Scarborough.[4] In 1901, he became a founder member of the Staithes Art Club.[4] After visiting Holland he began to use the first name ‘Ernst’.
He exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists the New English Art Club (of which he became a member in 1887), the Royal Academy (from 1887 to 1901) the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers the Walker Art Gallery and the Staithes Art Club
