JOHN BRETT, A.R.A. | THE CLOSE OF A SUMMER DAY

By descent through the artist’s family

The following information was provided by Charles Brett to whom we are very grateful;

This work depicts the line of rocks which lie off Tol-Pedn-Penwith, just to the south of Land's End, in a soft evening light. The artist described the spot as "one of the cardinal sites of England", and hoped to buy some land there on which to build a holiday house, a plan which eventually came to nothing. He also recorded: "the sketching this autumn has been tolerably fruitful. I have been using 14 x 7 canvases chiefly, with Roberson's medium dissolved in twice its volume of turpentine, and in all cases painting into wet white simply, without any yellow to it". (Family Diary Oct 10, 1880).