Chadding on Mount's Bay by Stanhope A. Forbes, RA (1857-1947). 1902. Oil on canvas. Support: 1524 × 2000 mm; frame: H. 98.5 × W. 153.5. Collection: Worcester City Museums, purchased from the artist in 1914. Reference: FAO6. Image kindly released on the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike licence (CC BY-NC-SA). [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Forbes's biographer describes this painting of children going herring-fishing as being "like a joyous song, with sunshine, childhood, and the smile of the sea for theme" (Birch 96), and it is perhaps Forbes's most popular work: visitors to Worcester City Art Gallery voted it their favourite painting there (according to a 2016 comment on their site). The bright and contrasting colours, the mixture of blues and whites in particular, capture the buoyancy of mood, and the reflection of both boat and children in the water is masterly. — Jacqueline Banerjee
Bibliography
Birch, Mrs Lionel. Stanhope A. Forbes, ARA, and Elizabeth Stanhope Forbes, ARWS. London: Cassell, 1906. Internet Archive. Contributed by the Kahl/Austin Foundation. Web. 2 March 2021.
"Chadding on Mount’s Bay by Alexander Stanhope Forbes." Research Worcestershire (Museums Worcestershire). Web. 2 March 2021.
Created 1 March 2021