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Lot Essay
One of Cooke's early works in oils, this was the second commission by a new patron, William Wells of Redleaf, a Trustee of the National Gallery and Director of the British Institution. A former naval officer and part of a ship merchant family, Wells of Redleaf, known as such for his fine estate near Penshurst, gathered an important collection of marine works, with a design to show `all the vessels, boats, up to vessels of the largest size, used in every part of the world'. It eventually included six E.W. Cookes, twenty Landseers and a Turner (sold for a remarkable £7,100 in 1890).
Wells earned a reputation amongst artists for his pronounced taste in detail and an essential truth in the image. An experienced sailor, he required a degree of realism and accuracy, which if not found he would reject, as he did with the work of Constable. He found in Cooke’s work the exacting standards which he sought, just as he did in acquiring Old Master works by Willem van de Velde and Charles Brooking. This is made evident by the extreme care to detail given in this picture, the rigging of both brig and lugger rendered with every exactness. Cooke would have produced this commission at home, from his studio in Barnes. It was the focus of many days and numerous initial sketches on location at Hastings. He travelled to location immediately following a visit to his patrons estate in April, later noting of another commission for Wells: `painted the sky from Nature'. It is without doubt also the case here.
Produced within less than two years of taking up painting in oils, the present work is an insight in the defining influence of young Cooke’s mentors, Clarkson Stanfield and R.P. Bonington. It is recorded in Cooke’s diary of 1834 that Bonington's works seen in exhibition that year had made a strongest impression on him and were a marking point for his decision to take up oil painting.
Recognisable as Hastings beach, the present work is based on two compositions by Bonington exhibited in the Cosmorama Exhibition, February 1834 in London’s Regent Street. These are Calais Jetty, France (Yale Center for British Art) and On the coast of Picardy (Wallace Collection). In addition to the leitmotiv of the two fishing boats to the right and central pool of reflection, he employs Bonington’s compositional format of a low horizon line and clustered groups off-centre; something learnt from Dutch painters.
The lesson of his master Clarkson Stanfield is made evident by the use of colour, strong effects of light and sharpness of detail. A sandy beach at low tide, under tall blue skies, sets the backdrop unto which he details the activity of fisherfolk.
Much as in Clarkson Stanfield’s compositions of the period, such as A Market Boat on the Scheldt, 1926 (Victoria and Albert Museum), the painting is set as stage, with a long line of sight at the centre. Elements such as the buoys in the left and right foreground are placed as a device to anchor the spectator's presence in the scene.
Wells earned a reputation amongst artists for his pronounced taste in detail and an essential truth in the image. An experienced sailor, he required a degree of realism and accuracy, which if not found he would reject, as he did with the work of Constable. He found in Cooke’s work the exacting standards which he sought, just as he did in acquiring Old Master works by Willem van de Velde and Charles Brooking. This is made evident by the extreme care to detail given in this picture, the rigging of both brig and lugger rendered with every exactness. Cooke would have produced this commission at home, from his studio in Barnes. It was the focus of many days and numerous initial sketches on location at Hastings. He travelled to location immediately following a visit to his patrons estate in April, later noting of another commission for Wells: `painted the sky from Nature'. It is without doubt also the case here.
Produced within less than two years of taking up painting in oils, the present work is an insight in the defining influence of young Cooke’s mentors, Clarkson Stanfield and R.P. Bonington. It is recorded in Cooke’s diary of 1834 that Bonington's works seen in exhibition that year had made a strongest impression on him and were a marking point for his decision to take up oil painting.
Recognisable as Hastings beach, the present work is based on two compositions by Bonington exhibited in the Cosmorama Exhibition, February 1834 in London’s Regent Street. These are Calais Jetty, France (Yale Center for British Art) and On the coast of Picardy (Wallace Collection). In addition to the leitmotiv of the two fishing boats to the right and central pool of reflection, he employs Bonington’s compositional format of a low horizon line and clustered groups off-centre; something learnt from Dutch painters.
The lesson of his master Clarkson Stanfield is made evident by the use of colour, strong effects of light and sharpness of detail. A sandy beach at low tide, under tall blue skies, sets the backdrop unto which he details the activity of fisherfolk.
Much as in Clarkson Stanfield’s compositions of the period, such as A Market Boat on the Scheldt, 1926 (Victoria and Albert Museum), the painting is set as stage, with a long line of sight at the centre. Elements such as the buoys in the left and right foreground are placed as a device to anchor the spectator's presence in the scene.