National Gallery of Art :: The Collection :: Seashore with Fishermen
  • Overview
  • Provenance
  • Exhibition History
  • Bibliography

Overview

Gainsborough's landscapes are highly personal statements that evolved from ideas and images he developed in his studio, either directly on canvas or in scale models. In this work he focused on the physical exertions of fishermen as they confront strong winds and pounding surf. Even the massive cliff on the far side of the cove, its thrusting diagonal posed against the wind, seems to echo the efforts of the men struggling to launch their boat into the waves.

Gainsborough owned works by Dutch marine painters, and their influence is evident here. His own free and suggestive painting technique, however, gives the scene a unique degree of freshness and spontaneity. He applied his paint in thin, translucent layers that are accented by deft touches of impasto, particularly in the fishermen's clothing and on the white foam of the waves. A restrained palette of browns and creams suggests the shore and rocks; gray-greens, gray-blues, and white highlights describe the sun-filled expanse of the sea, while the sky is colored with delicate hints of purple, blue, and pink.

Inscription

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Marks and Labels

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Provenance

Possibly by descent to Margaret Gainsborough.[1] Probably Augustine Greenland. (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 25-28 January 1804, 4th day, no. 43); bought by Charles Birch. Probably with (William Dermer), who sold it in 1805 to Sir John Leicester, Bt., later 1st baron de Tabley [1762-1827];[2] (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 7 July 1827, no. 27); bought by Smith[3] for Sir George Richard Philips, 1st Bt. [b. 1789], Weston House, Shipston-on-Stour; bequeathed to his eldest daughter, who married Adam, 2nd earl of Camperdown, Gleneagles, Perthshire; by descent to Robert, 3rd earl of Camperdown [1841-1918], Gleneagles; (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 21 February 1919, no. 134); (M. Knoedler & Co., London); sold 1920 to Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.; gift by 1937 to his daughter, Ailsa Mellon Bruce [1901-1969], New York; bequest 1970 to NGA.

[1] The Farington Diary, \c by Joseph Farington, R.A. [1747-1821], James Grieg, ed., 8 vols., London, 1923-1928: 1153 (entry for 8 February 1799).

[2] Douglas Hall, "The Tabley House Papers," The Walpole Society, 38 (1962): 70.

[3] Possibly John Smith, the picture dealer of 137 New Bond Street, author of the catalogue raisonné of Dutch pictures.

Exhibition History

1814
Pictures by the late William Hogarth, Richard Wilson, Thomas Gainsborough and J. Zoffani, British Institution, London, 1814, no. 30.
1832
Pictures by Italian, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch, and English Masters, British Institution, London, 1832, no. 66.
1863
Pictures by Italian, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch, French and English Masters, British Institution, London, 1863, no. 185.
1980
Thomas Gainsborough, Tate Gallery, London, 1980-1981, no. 144, repro.
1981
Gainsborough, Grand Palais, Paris, 1981, no. 67, repro.
1998
Thomas Gainsborough, Exhibit Halls, Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara, 1998, no. 41, repro.
2002
Thomas Gainsborough, 1727-1788, Tate Britain, London; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2002-2003, no. 151, repro. (shown in Washington and Boston only).

Bibliography

1799
Farington Diary (8 February 1799), 4:1153, possibly the Washington, picture.
1814
Morning Post, 6 August 1814.
1819
[Carey, William]. A Catalogue of Pictures, by British Artists, in the Collection of Sir John Leicester, Bart. London, 1819: 4, no. 3. Also London, 1819 [descriptive ed.]: 10-13.
1821
Young, John. A Catalogue of Pictures by British Artists, in the Collection of Sir John Fleming Leicester, Bart. London, 1821: 18, no. 40, etched repro. opp.
1856
Fulcher, George Williams. Life of Thomas Gainsborough, R.A. 2d rev. ed. London, 1856: 143-145, 198.
1898
Armstrong, Sir Walter. Gainsborough & His Place in English Art. London, 1898: 160; popular ed., London, 1904: 214.
1958
Waterhouse, Sir Ellis. Gainsborough. London, 1958: 31, no. 954, pl. 224.
1962
Hall, Douglas. "The Tabley House Papers." Walpole Society 38 (1962): 70, 114, probably the Washington picture.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 144, repro., as Seascape.
1975
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: no. 501, color repro.
1982
Hayes, John. The Landscape Paintings of Thomas Gainsborough. 2 vols. London and New York, 1982: 1:139, 164, color pl. 11; 2:493, no. 129, repro.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 357, no. 499, color repro., as Seascape.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 167, repro.
1992
Hayes, John. British Paintings of the Sixteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 92-95, color repro. 93.
1992
National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 150, repro.

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