Tuke was born in York and studied at the Slade before going on to Florence in 1880 and Paris in 1881-3 to study under Jean-Paul Laurens. On his return he settled in Cornwall, first in Newlyn, already an artistic centre established by Stanhope Forbes and other followers of French influenced plein-air painting, and later in Falmouth. Most of his works reflects his love and knowledge of the sea and his subject matter was usually marine or figurative. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1879 but was also a frequent exhibitor at most of the major London venues. He is represented in the collections of many public galleries both in this country and overseas. — Sarah Colegrave
Tuke discussed in The Studio in 1895 his new interest in trying to "study ... the undraped figure, to depict it with the pure daylight upon it, instead of the artificial lighting of the studio ... I always return to my first opinion, the truth and beauty of flesh in sunlight by the sea." — Lionel Lambourne, p. 300
Biographical Material and Discussions
Works
Bibliography
Colegrave, Sarah. Brief biography with Tying Sails. Sarah Colegrave Fine Art. Web. 21 February 2021.
Kim, Jongwoo Jeremy. "Naturalism, labor and homoerotic desire: Henry Scott Tuke." British Queer History: New Approaches and Perspectives. Ed. Brian Lewis. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2013. 39-62.
Lambourne, Lionel. Victorian Painting. London and New York: Phaidon, 1999.
Robinson, Cicely. Henry Scott Tuke. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2020 (paperback edition 2022).
Last modified 21 February 2021