Southern Coast of Guernsey

John Brett

Date: 1875 

Materials: Oil on canvas; in original frame

From 1865 onwards, Brett focused his work on the depiction of the coasts of Englandand Wales, with occasional forays to Scotland and France. He married in 1870, and enjoyed a honeymoon winter in Sicily, but thereafter he habitually spent each summer with his family on board a yacht, chiefly cruising and painting along the English Channel.

'Southern Coast of Guernsey' is a typical example, possibly identifiable with one of three scenes of the island exhibited at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists in1875. The brilliant luminosity of the colours and a loving observation of the rock formations are the most obvious legacies of Brett's Pre-Raphaelite.