Drying Nets. William Henry Millais, 1828-1899. Watercolour and gouache on paper. 9 x 13 inches (23 x 33 cm). Private collection. Image courtesy of Julian Hartnoll. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Drying Nets is surely one of the finest of Millais’s Pre-Raphaelite landscapes with its intricate detail and brilliant jewel-like colours. It features an elderly woman, the wife of a fisherman, standing at the doorway of her stone cottage located in a valley. She is looking at a series of nets hung up to dry on specially constructed lines. Nets were the most expensive gear a fisherman owned after his boat. Generally these nets were homemade of linen or hemp and were very heavy. Factory made cotton nets were introduced in the mid-1860s, which were lighter and more flexible, but which tore more easily. Nets took constant maintenance and had to be replaced frequently. After a fisherman returned from each fishing trip the nets had to be laid out on the beach or hung up to air dry or they would rot.
The foreground of the yard is made up of large rocks and stones and three chickens are seen foraging for food. Some fish have been left out on rocks in the sun to dry for long–term food preservation. Bundles of kindling are stacked against the side of the thatched cottage. A woven lobster pot is seen to the right of the fisherwoman. An outbuilding is distant to the cottage. In the background can be seen a row of trees, a meadow with sheep grazing, and then a range of low mountains covered with green vegetation.
Created 13 November 2024