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Lot Essay
Colin Hunter began his artistic career as a landscape painter. It was only in the 1860s that his reputation as a seascape painter became truly established. This vibrant depiction of salmon fishermen hauling in the day's catch conveys the artist's great interest in man's dependence on the sea. Hunter emphasises the physicality of the fishermen's bodies as they drag the nets from the boat and load the salmon into their baskets. Their tense, muscular frames contrast with the flaccid bodies of the salmon lying amongst the craggy rocks in the foreground. Even the strength of the men appears transient and brittle when compared to the thrashing power of the waves breaking on the rocks in the distance.
Comparable scenes by Hunter depicting fisherfolk living off the sea were also exhibited at the Royal Academy. Their Only Harvest, exhibited six years before the present picture in 1879, was purchased directly from exhibition for the Chantrey Bequest and is now in Tate Britain.
Comparable scenes by Hunter depicting fisherfolk living off the sea were also exhibited at the Royal Academy. Their Only Harvest, exhibited six years before the present picture in 1879, was purchased directly from exhibition for the Chantrey Bequest and is now in Tate Britain.