Wrecked: The last resource

A very similar composition, entitled Aground: the crew take to the rigging, was published in The Graphic on 31st October 1891. The present painting is quite rare in that most of the paintings that Brangwyn executed, primarily in relation to his illustrations for The Graphic, were painted en grisaille and reproduced in black and white in the magazine. Our painting shows vivid flashes of red pigment which suggests it was possibly done for a patron who had admired the original work and asked for a more elaborate version to be painted. Another work entitled Ashore, exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists in 1889, is similar in composition but shows a glimpse of land on the horizon, creating a very different atmosphere.

We are grateful to Dr Libby Horner for her help in preparing this catalogue entry.