Seascape on the Northumberland Coast, 1863. Oil on canvas, 14¼ x 20¼ inches (36.2 x 51.4 cm). Collection of the William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow, catalogue no. Br053. Click on image to enlarge it.
This painting shows a rock-strewn beach on the north-east coast of Northumbria. It is but one of several Pre-Raphaelite style seascapes painted by Scott in the 1860s including The Incoming Tide on the Northumberland Coast of 1861, North Sea by Moonlight of 1863, and Breakers on a Beach of 1864. With the exception of John Brett this series of paintings makes Scott probably the most important of the Pre-Raphaelite seascape painters. The carefully delineated foreground detail of rocks, pebbles, and seaweed epitomizes the impact of Pre-Raphaelitism on Scott's work and contrasts with the ghostly silhouettes of two sailing ships in the foggy distance.
Allen Staley however argues that these paintings of empty seashores at twilight, and the overall lack of subject matter, reflect as well the influence of German Romantic artists such as Caspar David Friedrich on Scott’s work (92). Scott was a great admirer of both historical and contemporary German painting and wrote a book Gems of Modern German Art published by George Routledge & Sons in 1873.
Bibliography
Staley, Allen. Pre-Raphaelite Landscape. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973.
Last modified 7 February 2022