Henry Scott Tuke (1858-1929)

Tuke settled in Falmouth in 1885 and found it provided everything he needed. In Cornwall he could pursue the plein air tradition against a backdrop of sea and sun. He used the local youths as models; Charlie Mitchell, who looked after Tuke's boats, Willie Sainsbury, Tuke's eldest nephew, Leo Marshall and Georgie Fouracre.

The present work recalls the composition of Lovers of the Sun (exhibited London, Royal Academy, 1923, no. 175) with the young men posed against the rocks on the shoreline.