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Lot Essay
Renowned for his idealised depictions of the Cornish coast, Henry Scott Tuke's oeuvre primarily comprises of portraits of male sitters backdropped by Cornish seascapes. The present lot, A Bather on the Rocks is a quintessential example of Tuke’s artistic output. He depicts his sitter reclining on a boulder, in a state of undress suggestive of a recent dip in the sea.
The sitter is probably Charlie Mitchell (1885-1957), ‘Tuke’s favourite model and general factotum’. Mitchell was born in Falmouth and modelled for Tuke from 1901, when he appeared in Ruby, Gold and Malachite (1901, Guildhall Art Gallery) until the artist's death. He looked after Tuke's boats and used to row him out to sea, so that he could paint his watercolours. The combination of the reclined pose and the sitter’s face slightly obscured and turned away from the viewer, conjures up a sense of pensiveness and introspection. Indeed, it feels as if the sitter is caught unawares, which suggests to the viewer that they are privy to a private moment, unposed and authentic.
A childhood in Falmouth birthed a love of the sea, which he enjoyed alongside the company of his young model muses, with whom he also shared close, personal relationships. His admiration is expressed through Tuke’s mythologising and romanticising of them through paint.
The sitter is probably Charlie Mitchell (1885-1957), ‘Tuke’s favourite model and general factotum’. Mitchell was born in Falmouth and modelled for Tuke from 1901, when he appeared in Ruby, Gold and Malachite (1901, Guildhall Art Gallery) until the artist's death. He looked after Tuke's boats and used to row him out to sea, so that he could paint his watercolours. The combination of the reclined pose and the sitter’s face slightly obscured and turned away from the viewer, conjures up a sense of pensiveness and introspection. Indeed, it feels as if the sitter is caught unawares, which suggests to the viewer that they are privy to a private moment, unposed and authentic.
A childhood in Falmouth birthed a love of the sea, which he enjoyed alongside the company of his young model muses, with whom he also shared close, personal relationships. His admiration is expressed through Tuke’s mythologising and romanticising of them through paint.