Harold Harvey

The board is slightly convexed with minor abrasions to edges and corners. Otherwise in good stable condition. The paint surface is in good original condition. No visible retouching under ultraviolet light.
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Cornish born Harold Harvey moved to Paris in the 1890s to study at the Atelier Julian in Paris, returning to live in Penzance and later Newlyn, where he became heavily associated with the Newlyn colony and its distinctive impressionistic depictions of local agricultural and fishing communities. He was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy from 1898 and had a number of solo shows including exhibitions at the Mendoza Galleries, Barbizon House and the Leicester Galleries.

 

He had his first London show in 1913 and from this point we see his works starting to feature friends and locals in interior settings, often his own home. Following his marriage to Gertrude Bodinnar in 1911, Harvey also features his wife in a number of works of this period and it is likely that Gertrude is the figure depicted in First Light. Harvey's crisp interior views provide a good example of his changing style at this time as he began to paint a broader range of subjects with increasingly sophisticated compositions yet a cleaner and simpler style.    

 

This painting is similar to an earlier work, Gertrude Harvey with parrot in the artist's home, painted in 1916 (Portscatho Gallery, Cornwall). The reference to a parrot is also a recurring theme in his work of this period.