Lights on the Mersey

Executed in 1892, the year before he died, the present picture is one of a small group that can be seen as the summation of Grimshaw's lifetime exploration of the effects of light. With a restricted palette, and startling economy of means, a ship is depicted against a horizon punctuated by the twinkling of distant lights. The influence of Whistler's nocturnes has been absorbed, and yet the style remains distinctively Grimshaw's own.