Figures on a beach in northern France
Boys’s artistic vision was shaped by Richard Parkes Bonington, whom he met in Paris in 1823. Their friendship encouraged Boys to shift his attention from engraving to watercolor. After Bonington’s tragic early death in 1828, Boys moved back to England and made this watercolor around the time he returned to France two years later. He found the subject on the northern coast, perhaps in Normandy, and made changeable weather a focus. Dark swift rain clouds threaten to drench figures dressed in local costume who stand near a beached sailing vessel. While the handling and approach to form display a distinct individuality, the basic conception continues to pay tribute to Bonington.
Artwork Details
- Title: Figures on a beach in northern France
- Artist: Thomas Shotter Boys (British, Pentonville 1803–1874 London)
- Date: 1830
- Medium: Watercolor and gouache (bodycolor) over graphite with stopping out
- Dimensions: sheet: 5 1/2 x 8 15/16 in. (13.9 x 22.7 cm)
- Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: Purchase, Malcolm Hewitt Weiner Foundation Gift and Mr. and Mrs. Frank E. Richardson Gift, 2004
- Object Number: 2004.266
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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Thomas Shotter Boys
Delpech
1832
Thomas Shotter Boys
1832
Thomas Shotter Boys
1818–25
Thomas Shotter Boys
1820–74
Multiple artists/makers
1839
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