Bathers

This is one of several bathing scenes that the British impressionist painter Henry Scott Tuke undertook in the summer of 1918. It is painted at his favourite spot on Newporth beach just outside Falmouth, in Cornwall, not far from where he lived at Pennance Cottage, Swanpool. The location is identifiable by the distinctive barnacle encrusted rocks and the shallow pools around them which appear in many of Tuke’s paintings with the view of the Lizard in the distance. The model on the right looks like Tom White who had black hair and was Tuke’s model from 1915 – 1918. White was a Post office messenger boy. Tuke paid White 2 shillings and 6 pence per modelling session, which lasted an hour.

It is painted directly on to panel in situ, using Tuke’s light-capturing impressionistic style. He knew exactly where to place the white flecks of paint on the water to reproduce the shimmering sunlight on the water – he also captured the reflected light of the sea in the rocks with flecks of blue or on the models chest and back. The pose and placement of the figures in relation to the rocks and each other is typical of the compositions for his bathing pictures.

We are grateful to Catherine Wallace for her assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.