Harold Harvey

The Antiques Magazine, 26 May-1 June 2001, issue 877, illustrated

Boys Fishing on a Quay probably depicts the picturesque harbour at Mousehole in Cornwall. Two barefooted lads are fishing for red gurnard, which were plentiful along this coast of Cornwall. Mousehole had been a thriving fishing port since the fifteenth century and was raided by the Spanish in 1595 when only one house was left standing. Part of the south quay dates from 1390 and is possibly the oldest in Cornwall. By the nineteenth century Mousehole supported its own fishing fleet but due to the narrow mouth of the harbour which made it difficult for the new steam ships to dock there, Newlyn overtook Mousehole as a major harbour towards the end of the century and by the time Harvey painted there the fleet in Mousehole was much depleted. For artists like Harvey, the lively quayside was irresistibly inspiring. It had been a particularly favoured location for Harvey's pictures as early as 1897 when he painted Mousehole (unlocated) with lobster pots and boats in the foreground and the quay beyond. In 1908 he painted another view of the quay, entitled Mousehole (private collection) which is a composition similar to those by Stanhope Forbes of figures awaiting the fleet on the old quay, painted in muted tones. Boys Fishing on a Quay is comparable with Carrying the Oars of 1906 (private collection) but also earlier pictures such as Sport on the Shore of c.1890 (Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery) which depicts two similar boys racings crabs on the beach. These subjects of childhood beneath the western sun are Harvey's most charming as there is nothing pretentious in their presentation of real life in Cornwall for the fishermen and their families.