In Tate Britain
Walk Through British Art: 1840
Free entry- Artist
- William Dyce 1806–1864
- Medium
- Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions
- Support: 635 x 889 mm
frame: 950 x 1200 x 125 mm - Collection
- Tate
- Acquisition
- Purchased 1894
- Reference
- N01407
Display caption
Dyce’s painting was the product of a trip he made in the autumn of 1858 to the popular holiday resort of Pegwell Bay near Ramsgate, on the east coast of Kent. It shows various members of his family gathering shells. The artist’s interest in geology is shown by his careful recording of the flint-encrusted strata and eroded faces of the chalk cliffs. The barely visible trail of Donati’s comet in the sky places the human activities in far broader dimensions of time and space.
Gallery label, November 2016
Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.
Film and audio
-
Jason Evans
In this film photographer Jason Evans explains how he found a new source of inspiration in the same area of ...
Features
-
Pegwell Bay, Kent – a Recollection of October 5th 1858 ?1858–60 by William Dyce
Using contemporary reviews of this major work, the artist’s own papers and a visit to the original site, this ...
Explore
- architecture(41,339)
-
- townscapes / man-made features(21,710)
-
- breakwater(53)
- emotions and human qualities(5,366)
- recreational activities(2,861)
-
- beachcombing(1)
- walking(153)
- animals: features(741)
-
- shell(81)
- donkey(225)
- comet(6)
- clothing and personal items(5,986)
-
- shawl(91)
- spade(4)
- basket(487)
- actions: postures and motions(9,220)
-
- bending forward(355)
- woman(9,056)
- boy(1,176)
- group(4,270)
- Dyce family(1)
- UK counties(19,574)
-
- Kent(1,085)
- England(19,255)
- England, South East(5,957)
- England, Southern(9,009)
- Pegwell Bay(3)
- education, science and learning(1,412)
-
- geology(33)
- arts and entertainment(6,586)
-
- artist, painter(2,158)
You might like
-
John Phillip The Prison Window
1857 -
John Phillip The Antonia
1863 -
John Phillip The Promenade
1859 -
Arthur Boyd Houghton Ramsgate Sands
c.1861 -
Robert Braithwaite Martineau The Last Day in the Old Home
1862 -
William Dyce St John Leading Home his Adopted Mother
1842–60 -
Sir John Everett Millais, Bt The Boyhood of Raleigh
1870 -
William Dyce Madonna and Child
c.1827–30 -
John Robertson Reid Toil and Pleasure
1879 -
Robert Braithwaite Martineau Picciola
1853 -
William Holman Hunt Our English Coasts, 1852 (‘Strayed Sheep’)
1852 -
Arthur Hughes April Love
1855–6 -
William Bell Scott The Eve of the Deluge
1865 -
William Dyce Girl at a Casement
date not known -
John Phillip A Mountainous Landscape in Spain
date not known