The outlook from my native cliffs. "Heaven lies about us in our infancy." (Wordsworth)

Details

John Brett, A.R.A. (1831-1902)
The outlook from my native cliffs. "Heaven lies about us in our infancy." (Wordsworth)
signed and dated 'John Brett/1895' (lower right)
oil on canvas
15 x 30 in. (28.1 x 76.2 cm.)

Provenance

The artist's studio sale; Christie's, London, 15 February 1902, lot 99 (22 gns to Gribble).
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 13 December 1989, lot 13 as Wild flowers and seashore.

Literature

Blackburn's Academy Notes, London, 1895, pp. 11 & 65, illustrated.
Magazine of Art Supplement, London, 1895, illustrated p. 144.
Black and White handbook to RA, London, 1895, illustrated.
Athenaeum, 6 July 1895, p. 36.
C. Payne & C. Brett, John Brett: Pre-Raphaelite Landscape Painter, Yale, 2010, p. 239, no. 1433.

Exhibited

London, Royal Academy, 1895, no. 232.
Birmingham, Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, 1895, no. 296.

Special notice

These lots have been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction.

Brought to you by

Clare Keiller

ckeiller@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2729

Lot Essay

The view depicted here is probably based on the artist's observations of the Bristol Channel from the Gower peninsula in 1887. In his later years he increasingly based his larger works on sketches made earlier in his career. In its depiction of a variety of craft from a cliff-top vantage point it is reminiscent of several of Brett's earlier RA exhibition pieces, most notably Britannia's Realm, 1880 (Tate Gallery, London), The Earth's shadow on the sky, 1888 (Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens), and Pearly Summer, 1892 (sold in these Rooms, 19 February 2003).

We are grateful to Charles Brett for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.

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