Henry Scott Tuke, RA, RWS

(British, 1858-1929)

Off Falmouth

Footnotes

PROVENANCE:
with the Fine Art Society
Private collection, UK

EXHIBITED:
Ridley Art Club 1896, sold for 18 guineas

White Barque, also known as Off Falmouth, (Tuke's register no. R237) is a light filled painting by one of Britains foremost Impressionist painters.

In 1894 he had written an article for The 'Studio' entitled A Day in Famouth Harbour, in which he describes the romance of sailing ships and mourns their demise with the advent of steam : 'Though the number of vessels calling here is nothing to what it was twenty years ago there (is) still plenty to be a continual source of interest..........This ought to be a good day to see the finest sight our port can offer - the arrival of a homeward-bounder, all travel-stained and weather-beaten, now first sighting land after a voyage of perhaps three or four months.'

Henry Scott Tuke was fascinated by white-hulled sailing ships and he painted them many times in his very productive life as a painter. One features in the centre of the backdrop to his highly acclaimed bathing boys painting August Blue, his Royal Academy submission for 1894 which was purchased for the nation by the Chantrey Bequest and which now hangs in Tate Britain.

Living in Swanpool, Falmouth he was ideally placed to sail or row out in to the Carrick Roads. Many of the tall ships coming to Falmouth for Orders would moor in the deep sea inlet in the Carrick Roads. Most of Tukes marine studies of ships at anchor were in watercolour as they could be executed more quickly. But on this occasion Tuke has had the time to complete quite a reasonably sized canvas in oil. Tuke has made the white hulled barque the focus of the painting shown head on, slightly to one side. It is a close up, creating a cut off view of the main masts, which allowed him to paint the complex network of booms and rigging hanging from them. He used this compositional device on several occasion, see Sunset Effect a watercolour of 1896 (sold Bonhams 19th November 2008, lot 20).

Tuke has captured the foreshortened view of the barque with great accuracy but has maintained his loose impressionist style allowing him to paint all the rusty oranges, pinks and blues in the iron hull. The brightness of the blue sky on a sunny day is reflected in the light azure blue with reflected mauves and pinks from the barques hull in the water. In the middle distance is another black edged barque seen in silhouette at anchor. The static ships are animated with smaller sailing craft both in between them and in the distance. The scene is set against the headland of the Roseland Penninsula which creates a sense of perspective and the flock of gulls in the foreground, supply a detail that was a signature in many of Tukes marine works.

We are grateful to Catherine Wallace for her assistance in cataloguing this lot.