Seashore with Fishermen
Thomas Gainsboroughc. 1781/1782
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Washington, DC, United States
Gainsborough's landscapes are highly personal statements that evolved from ideas and images he developed in his studio, either directly on canvas or in scale models. In this work he focused on the physical exertions of fishermen as they confront strong winds and pounding surf. Even the massive cliff on the far side of the cove, its thrusting diagonal posed against the wind, seems to echo the efforts of the men struggling to launch their boat into the waves.
Gainsborough owned works by Dutch marine painters, and their influence is evident here. His own free and suggestive painting technique, however, gives the scene a unique degree of freshness and spontaneity. He applied his paint in thin, translucent layers that are accented by deft touches of impasto, particularly in the fishermen's clothing and on the white foam of the waves. A restrained palette of browns and creams suggests the shore and rocks; gray-greens, gray-blues, and white highlights describe the sun-filled expanse of the sea, while the sky is colored with delicate hints of purple, blue, and pink.
More information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication _British Paintings of the Sixteenth through Nineteenth Centuries_, which is available as a free PDF <u>https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/british-paintings-16th-19th-centuries.pdf</u>
- Title: Seashore with Fishermen
- Creator: Thomas Gainsborough
- Date Created: c. 1781/1782
- Physical Dimensions: overall: 101.9 x 127.6 cm (40 1/8 x 50 1/4 in.) framed: 124.5 x 149.9 x 7 cm (49 x 59 x 2 3/4 in.)
- Provenance: Possibly by descent to Margaret Gainsborough.[1] Probably Augustine Greenland. (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 25-28 January 1804, 4th day, no. 43); bought by Charles Birch. Probably with (William Dermer), who sold it in 1805 to Sir John Leicester, Bt., later 1st baron de Tabley [1762-1827];[2] (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 7 July 1827, no. 27); bought by Smith[3] for Sir George Richard Philips, 1st Bt. [b. 1789], Weston House, Shipston-on-Stour; bequeathed to his eldest daughter, who married Adam, 2nd earl of Camperdown, Gleneagles, Perthshire; by descent to Robert, 3rd earl of Camperdown [1841-1918], Gleneagles; (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 21 February 1919, no. 134); (M. Knoedler & Co., London); sold 1920 to Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.; gift by 1937 to his daughter, Ailsa Mellon Bruce [1901-1969], New York; bequest 1970 to NGA. [1] _The Farington Diary, \c by Joseph Farington, R.A. [1747-1821]_, James Grieg, ed., 8 vols., London, 1923-1928: 1153 (entry for 8 February 1799). [2] Douglas Hall, "The Tabley House Papers," _The Walpole Society_, 38 (1962): 70. [3] Possibly John Smith, the picture dealer of 137 New Bond Street, author of the catalogue raisonné of Dutch pictures.
- Rights: CC0
- Medium: oil on canvas
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