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Lot Essay
John Brett came to prominence in the late 1850s with a series of landscapes strongly influenced by the writings of Ruskin, of which The Stone-breaker (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool) and the Val d'Aosta (Lord Lloyd Webber) are the best known. In 1863 he began to concentrate on marine subjects, and by 1871 had established a pattern of spending the summer at the coast painting oil sketches from which larger commissioned and exhibition works were later painted in his studio.
In 1881 he decided to work at Newquay, and took Bothwicks House for four months from the beginning of June. The house was perched near the edge of the cliff above Killacourt Cove, and a flight of steps led from the garden directly down to the beach. Brett was impressed by the surroundings, noting in the family diary: 'As far as sea is concerned I know no place quite equal to this for colour, clearness or steadiness of demeanour.' And his wife Mary described the beach as 'very beautiful, the sand being of a lovely fawn colour and the rocks a rich brown being nearly all of them cover'd with sea weed and mussels.' The weather was generally good that summer, and Brett painted nearly fifty oil sketches, as well as six larger finished pictures - 'total value about £1200 which is a better season's work than usual.' Many of these works were sent to the Sea Exhibition held by the Fine Art Society at the end of the year.
During the winter Brett painted The Grey of the Morning 'from studies at Newquay last year', using 'Roberson's medium & turps' on a Roberson canvas. The principal sources seem to be Spring Tide July 14 81 and Mussels June 23 81 (both Private collections), and, especially, a sketch, undated but inscribed Newquay, Cornwall now with the Maas Gallery. Like these sketches, the work depicts the view from the beach immediately below Bothwicks House, looking north-east towards Park Head, with Trevose Head in the far distance. The sand, pools and mussel-covered rocks are painted with Ruskinian precision, and the beauty of the sea is conveyed with exquisite delicacy. The work was sent in to the Royal Academy in 1882, accompanied by this quotation: 'The ripples whispered to the mussels in the grey of the morning and the lily white clouds got up early and peeped over the wall.' (Old Play). The Art Journal's reviewer, describing the picture as 'a superb example of Mr Brett's work,' explained that 'the 'wall' is one of those banks of vapour which so often lie over the sea in the early hours of the day, and the round tops of a few cumuli just rise above it.'
At the Academy the picture was bought by the Cornish landowner C.H.T. Hawkins for £1,200, the highest price Brett ever obtained for a picture. His career was then at its zenith (he had been elected ARA the previous year), and he could command high prices. The work was clearly regarded as one of his most significant achievements, since it was selected not only for the Birmingham Sea Exhibition of 1894, but also for both the Queen's Jubilee exhibitions - at Manchester in 1887, and at the Guildhall ten years later. In 1896 it was acquired for the celebrated collection assembled by the gold-mining magnate George McCulloch, and later passed into the Christie collection at Glyndebourne. From the 1930s it was in the possession of the Saunton Sands Hotel in North Devon, where it suffered considerable neglect, but in 2007 it was skilfully and sympathetically restored, and this important example of Brett's work can now be seen again in all its glory.
We are grateful to Charles Brett for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.
In 1881 he decided to work at Newquay, and took Bothwicks House for four months from the beginning of June. The house was perched near the edge of the cliff above Killacourt Cove, and a flight of steps led from the garden directly down to the beach. Brett was impressed by the surroundings, noting in the family diary: 'As far as sea is concerned I know no place quite equal to this for colour, clearness or steadiness of demeanour.' And his wife Mary described the beach as 'very beautiful, the sand being of a lovely fawn colour and the rocks a rich brown being nearly all of them cover'd with sea weed and mussels.' The weather was generally good that summer, and Brett painted nearly fifty oil sketches, as well as six larger finished pictures - 'total value about £1200 which is a better season's work than usual.' Many of these works were sent to the Sea Exhibition held by the Fine Art Society at the end of the year.
During the winter Brett painted The Grey of the Morning 'from studies at Newquay last year', using 'Roberson's medium & turps' on a Roberson canvas. The principal sources seem to be Spring Tide July 14 81 and Mussels June 23 81 (both Private collections), and, especially, a sketch, undated but inscribed Newquay, Cornwall now with the Maas Gallery. Like these sketches, the work depicts the view from the beach immediately below Bothwicks House, looking north-east towards Park Head, with Trevose Head in the far distance. The sand, pools and mussel-covered rocks are painted with Ruskinian precision, and the beauty of the sea is conveyed with exquisite delicacy. The work was sent in to the Royal Academy in 1882, accompanied by this quotation: 'The ripples whispered to the mussels in the grey of the morning and the lily white clouds got up early and peeped over the wall.' (Old Play). The Art Journal's reviewer, describing the picture as 'a superb example of Mr Brett's work,' explained that 'the 'wall' is one of those banks of vapour which so often lie over the sea in the early hours of the day, and the round tops of a few cumuli just rise above it.'
At the Academy the picture was bought by the Cornish landowner C.H.T. Hawkins for £1,200, the highest price Brett ever obtained for a picture. His career was then at its zenith (he had been elected ARA the previous year), and he could command high prices. The work was clearly regarded as one of his most significant achievements, since it was selected not only for the Birmingham Sea Exhibition of 1894, but also for both the Queen's Jubilee exhibitions - at Manchester in 1887, and at the Guildhall ten years later. In 1896 it was acquired for the celebrated collection assembled by the gold-mining magnate George McCulloch, and later passed into the Christie collection at Glyndebourne. From the 1930s it was in the possession of the Saunton Sands Hotel in North Devon, where it suffered considerable neglect, but in 2007 it was skilfully and sympathetically restored, and this important example of Brett's work can now be seen again in all its glory.
We are grateful to Charles Brett for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.