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

Painted in 1907, the same year as Forbes's important work, A Gala Day in Newlyn (Gray Art Gallery and Museum, Hartlepool), the present work is from a group of pictures in which Forbes concentrated on the lives of the local Newlyners who worked inland. Newlyn had a very active farming community and Forbes came to celebrate this lifestyle in paintings such as The Drinking Place (1900 Oldham Art Gallery).

During the 1900s Forbes palette brightened from the tonal 'grey' paintings which had characterised his output, to a brighter and sunnier hue. This was more in tune with the second generation of Cornish painters, such as Harold Harvey and Laura Knight, many of whom were inspired to visit Newlyn and were influenced by Forbes's example.