Stanhope Alexander Forbes, R.A. (1857-1947)

The reverse of the present picture depicts a study for The Slip, painted by Stanhope Forbes in 1885, exhibited at the Whitechapel Art Gallery Spring Exhibition in 1908 and offered at Christie's, London, 27 November 2002, lot 26. Forbes moved to Newlyn in 1884 and The Slip was one of his first finished paintings of the Cornish fishing village. The study presents local Newlyners crossing the pathway between Newlyn Town and Street-an-Nowan, which would become submerged by the incoming tide. Forbes most likely painted the study en plein air and from a boat to capture the naturalistic light that has been recreated in the final painting.