Sir John Alfred Arnesby Brown R.A. 1866-1955

"Few men have such clarity of vision or such sincerity.  For him unquestionably truth and beauty were one.  When single-ness of heart is matched with mastery of paint, great works are born.  His innate reverence and accomplished skill have given us landscapes in the finest tradition of English painting" (A.R. Batchelor Wylam, 'An Appreciation', Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Sir Arnesby Brown, R.A., exh. cat. Norwich Castle Museum, 1959, p.5).

This fine seascape is an early work by Arnesby Brown.  He had studied art at the Bushey School of Art between 1889 and 1892, and had exhibited at the Royal Academy for the first time in 1891.  He exhibted the present work in 1896, alongside two other works, Homeward and September Eve, both of which conformed to Brown's more usual style of landscapes.  The present work is an evocative and mannered impression of the sea.  Brown concentrated much of his work on the area around St Ives in Cornwall, and it is possible that the present work depicts the Newlyn fishing fleet.