Composition

Cliffs and Breakers, The Hunterian

W.R. Sickert, Clodgy Point, The Hunterian

It was compared by Dennis Farr with one of the few paintings by Walter Sickert to have survived from the time he was with Whistler at St Ives - Clodgy Point. It shows close similarities of colour and technique to Whistler's painting. 1

Technique

It was painted on a single section of timber, edged with a narrow band of bevelled, mitred beading. The ground appears to be a dark grey paint, on top of the original priming.

The paint layer was, according to a conservator, 'deliberately thinned and abraded by the artist.' 2 The horizontal panel is rather dark, with a matt silver sky and ochre coloured beach, a sombre green headland, and the well-worked sea lightened by a wrinkled ribbon of white surf, painted with a very small brush. Many of the brushstrokes sweep right across the panel from left to right, the colours blending smooth, silky, harmony in the shallows and on the beach itself.

Conservation History

The painting was treated by Harry Woolford in about 1980, possibly touching up an area at upper left. The condition of the panel was checked by Claire Meredith in 2001, and found to be 'stable and generally sound', with rather thick and slightly discoloured varnish. 3

Frame

Dowdeswell frame, made for exhibition in 1884; 36.4 x 44.9 x 2.5 cm. 4