Sir Frank Brangwyn RA RWS RBA Figures & Boats on Estuary Shore

An original c.1905 oil painting, Frank Brangwyn RA RWS RBA, Figures & Boats on Estuary Shore.

This fabulous work is a preparatory sketch in oil by Sir Frank Brangwyn RA RWS RBA (1867–1956). Despite its unfinished status, creating a near-abstract effect, an interesting peopled scene delineated in graphite emerges amid the array of subtle marks in oil paint. In his early years Brangwyn had joined the Royal Navy Reserve and began painting seascapes. Ships would regularly feature in his prolific output; here Brangwyn's composition depicts a ship, viewed dramatically—as was often the case—from the bow. A collection of figures, young and old, dressed variously in bathing suits, shorts and boater hats, populates the foreground.The Welsh art writer Walter Shaw Sparrow noted about Brangwyn: 'In his best work he knows when to stop; and often he stops at a point which a great many onlookers find "unfinished," or "too sketchy."'

Oil and graphite on Windsor and Newton canvas.

Provenance: Liss LLewellyn Fine Art. Dealer's label verso, as shown.