Henry Robertson ARE Hastings Beach

An original late 19th-century watercolour painting, Henry Robertson ARE, Hastings Beach.

This wonderfully atmospheric watercolour shows fishing boats on the Stade beach at Hastings, with the East Cliff and distant pier silhouetted against the warm glow of the setting sun. The artist, Henry Robertson ARE (1848–1930), has layered impressionistic washes of colour, punctuated with gem-like bodycolour details in the orange-yellow sun, red fisherman's jumper and white breaking surf. The resulting image is one in which the activities of the fishing industry on the beach are in harmony with the glorious natural landscape around them.

Hastings is one of Britain's oldest fishing ports and has boasted a very particular style of sustainable beach-launched fishing for over 1000 years. The boats are hauled onto the town's shingle beach, the Stade, after each fishing trip, so they are necessarily modest in size, and the resulting inshore fishing practices are ecologically sound. In the 19th century this was done with the assistance of horses and local net shops grew up around this small-scale enterprise.

Many artists were drawn to Hastings in the 19th century, including J.M.W. Turner, William Henry Hunt, Samuel Prout, David Cox, William Collingwood and Peter de Wint.

Henry Robertson lived at Hastings for a period, and also St Leonards-on-Sea, and he is known for his coastal subjects in watercolour. He also painted views on the East Anglian coast, having lived at Ipswich and Norwich.

Robertson was a member of the Ipswich Fine Art Club 1883–98. In 1886 he became a member of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and exhibited at the Dudley Gallery; Manchester City Art Gallery; New Gallery; Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers 1885–98 and at the Royal Academy. He exhibited at Norfolk & Norwich Art Circle 1900–1908.

In watercolour and bodycolour with graphite underdrawing and annotations.

Presented in a delicate swept gilt frame with cream wash line mount. Image size: 17 x 23cm. Frame size: 35.5 x 42cm.

Provenance: Canon Gallery, Petworth; with dealer's label verso and accompanying exhibition leaflet and copy sales invoice.