Footnotes

• Exhibited:
  Birmingham Art Circle, 1885 (asking price £25).
  
  The present lot was painted not long after Langley and his family moved to Newlyn. In March 1882 Langley and his family took up residence at Pembroke Lodge, close to Newlyn harbour and overlooking Mount's Bay. By the end of November that year Langley had completed 43 paintings for the Allday's commission and at the same time had been exhibiting his Midlands pictures which were well recieved. By the end of 1882 Langley had began to recognise the plight of the local fishermen in Newlyn, and it is possible to observe the focus of his work begining to reflect this. One of the first of these new works was entitled Time moveth not, our being 'tis that moves (1882) and it was a huge success in London where it was exhibited with W Ayerst Ingram. The work depicts an old lady in contemplation, with her head resting on her hand. This was to be a theme which Langley favoured throughout his career. As langley's career progressed he depicted scenes of hardship such as Disaster! Scene in a Cornish Fishing Village (1889) which showed the aftermath of a storm where many fishermen lost their lives. The present lot is a sunnier depiction of Newlyn life. It is relatively rare for Langley to use such a bright blue sky as a backdrop for a Newlyn scene. Here, Langley has chosen to blend the figures into the background, making them a part of the landscape rather than sitting, as they often are, at the forefront of the scene. Stylistically it shows Langley handling the medium of watercolour in a looser manner with more washes applied, compared to his later watercolours which display a tighter application of paint.
  
  We would like to thank Roger Langley for his kind assistance in cataloguing this lot.