Landing the Catch, Portel Sands. William Lionel Wyllie RA, RI, RE (1851-1931). Signed and dated 1875. Oil on canvas, 13 ¾ x 32 ½ inches. Provenance: Oliver Swann Galleries, London Courtesy of the Maas Gallery, London. [Click on image to enlarge it.]
“In 1875, the year that this picture is dated, two of the then young painter’s pictures were refused by the Royal Academy, for the first time in seven years of precocious success. Disillusioned, Wyllie declared that he would give up painting and go to sea, and although by then the family house on the beach at Wimereux had fallen into the sea during a storm, he spent most of his summer sailing and sketching about the Normandy coast. This picture is of landing the catch at low water on Portel Sands, just south of Boulogne. The bright sun almost directly overhead makes dark silhouettes of the figures and boats, and scintillates on the sea and the wet sand.” — Maas Gallery
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Created 29 June 2022