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Lot Essay
William Dyce's Pegwell Bay, a Recollection of October 5th 1858, 1858-60 (Tate Gallery), remains one of the most striking and enigmatic images of the nineteenth century. The artist's family gather upon the pebbly beach; Donati's comet streaks the sky. The picture's importance lies in its mediation between an astronomical event - more relative to geology and ecology than to the relatively small sphere of human existence - and a very romantic, subjective, view of history and change.
The present watercolour shows Dyce exploring ideas he was to augment in Pegwell Bay, a decade later. He was a keen amateur scientist, and cliff strata represent time's passing in a way that is both visual and scientifically resonant. Dyce stayed on the Isle of Wight during the summer of 1847. He executed two watercolours of Culver Cliffs. Marcia Pointon op.cit. notes that here Dyce places the figures so as '...to enhance the general arrangement.' Her comment highlights the difference between this and the other, more peopled, composition. It is a more conventional example of generic Victorian landscape, whereas the present watercolour has a quiet subtlety that is both sophisticated and thought-provoking.
The present watercolour shows Dyce exploring ideas he was to augment in Pegwell Bay, a decade later. He was a keen amateur scientist, and cliff strata represent time's passing in a way that is both visual and scientifically resonant. Dyce stayed on the Isle of Wight during the summer of 1847. He executed two watercolours of Culver Cliffs. Marcia Pointon op.cit. notes that here Dyce places the figures so as '...to enhance the general arrangement.' Her comment highlights the difference between this and the other, more peopled, composition. It is a more conventional example of generic Victorian landscape, whereas the present watercolour has a quiet subtlety that is both sophisticated and thought-provoking.