
In Tate Britain
- Artist
- William Dyce 1806–1864
- Medium
- Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions
- Support: 635 × 889 mm
frame: 950 × 1200 × 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
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