The Gulf of Rosas by Henry Moore RA RWS, 1831-1895. c. 1873. Signed and inscribed indistinctly 'G Rosas 7[?]'; inscribed verso 'on left/ Cape Entrada/ Pyrenees in distance/ Gulf of Rosas/ Right, Cape Begin/Spain.' Oil on board, 4 x 18 1/2 inches.
In December 1873 Moore went on a trip to Egypt with his brother-in-law. They travelled first to Marseilles and then by boat to Alexandria. On the return trip he was forced to tie both his canvas and chair to the rail of the bridge of the boat during a gale whilst he made an oil sketch that he used for his painting Rough Mediterranean. The only seas he had hitherto known were those of the British Isles, and the new experience opened up his palette. As his biographer [Frank MacLean] wrote: '...with the 'Rough Mediterranean' begins his emancipation from the local colours of sea-shore seas; a new vista of artistic possibilities opens before him'.
The Gulf of Rosas is the most north-eastern bay on the Spanish coast, south of Perpignan. — Rupert Maas, p. 20
Bibliography
Catalogue [of June 2008 Exhibition]. London: The Maas Gallery, 2008. Catalogue no. 15
Maclean, Frank. Henry Moore RA. Ed. James A. Manson. London: The Walter Scott Publishing Co. Ltd., 1905.
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Created 5 July 2008
Last modified 5 October 2022