A fisherman with his dinghy ashore, Lulworth Cove. William Henry Millais, 1828-1899. Watercolour and gouache and gum arabic on paper. 6 1/2 x 10 1/2 inches (16.3 x 26.4 cm);. Collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, accession no. PD.34-1986. Image courtesy of the Fitzwilliam Museum under the terms of a Creative Commons License (BY-NC-ND). [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Lulworth Cove near the village of West Lulworth in Dorset has unique geological features and is thought of as one of the best places in the world to study geology because of its stunning landforms with five types of rock dating to the Jurassic period. The cove was formed as a result of erosion caused by the alternate geological resistances of the bands of different rock that run parallel to the coastline.
Millais's painting shows a fisherman hauling his dinghy ashore after a day of fishing, his oars lying across the boat. A woven pot that was used by fishermen in locations like Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall for centuries to catch lobsters lies in front of the dinghy. The sea is rough with the tide breaking violently against the headland under a stormy overcast sky. Christopher Newall has praised the way the rocks in this watercolour were treated according to Ruskinian principles: "A close-up view of a fisherman, A Fisherman with his Dinghy at Lulworth Cove, was painted by William Henry Millais, the brother of John Everett Millais. During the 1850s and 1860s he studied the coasts and river landscapes of the British Isles, and occasionally represented scenes of working life. W. H. Millais subscribed to Pre-Raphaelite principles in this conscientious description of geological features. In A Fisherman he has observed both the pebbles of the beach and the dramatic strata of rock which forms the headland at Lulworth."
Bibliography
A fisherman with his dinghy ashore, Lulworth Cove. Fitzwilliam Museum. Web. 13 November 2024.
Newall, Christopher. Victorian Watercolours. London: Phaidon Press Ltd., 1987, pl. 51, 76.
Created 13 November 2024