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Lot Essay
From the mid-1870s Grimshaw had manipulated his painting technique to subsume detail into the background, where it appears to merge with the gloom. The Lighthouse at Scarborough shows Grimshaw using his technique in ways which extend his usual practice. By his choosing to view the harbour from across the wet sand, the whole surface is made to gleam with light, reflected from the hazy moon.
A point of particular interest about these coastal views is the strong indication they give that by the 1870s, whilst Grimshaw was certainly using photographic material to achieve certain specialized effects, he was by no means wholly dependent on photographs as the basis of his paintings.
We are grateful to Alexander Robertson of Leeds City Art Gallery for his help in preparing this and the following three catalogue entries.
A point of particular interest about these coastal views is the strong indication they give that by the 1870s, whilst Grimshaw was certainly using photographic material to achieve certain specialized effects, he was by no means wholly dependent on photographs as the basis of his paintings.
We are grateful to Alexander Robertson of Leeds City Art Gallery for his help in preparing this and the following three catalogue entries.