Kynance

Kynance

Kynance
Artist:John Brett (British, Bletchingly 1831–1902 London)
Date:1888
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:7 x 14 1/8 in. (17.8 x 35.9 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Bequest of Theodore Rousseau Jr., 1973
Accession Number:1974.289.2

Brett was influenced by the work of the Pre-Raphaelites and the writings of John Ruskin. He specialized in views of sea and sky and coastal subjects, and was known for detailed, accurate depictions of the natural world such as this one. Kynance Cove lies north and west of Lizard Head, the furthest southwest point in Cornwall. Brett, a yachtsman, doubtless reached Kynance by sea, as in the 1870s and 1880s he spent his summers sailing the coast.
Catalogue Entry
Brett was influenced by the work of the Pre-Raphaelites and the writings of Ruskin, and was interested in geology, meteorology, and astronomy. He was known for his detailed and accurate depictions of the natural world, specializing in views of sea and sky and coastal subjects. He was a member of the Royal Astronomical Society and an associate of the Royal Academy.
In 1967 this oil sketch, which is dated September 27, 1888, was sold with a pendant of the same size, Rocky Shore with Breakers (location unknown), to Agnew’s, from whence it was acquired by Theodore Rousseau, then the Metropolitan Museum’s curator of European paintings. It has never been treated, or even varnished, and is in perfect state.
Kynance Cove lies north and west of Lizard Head, the furthest southwest point in Cornwall. The site would likely have held great appeal for Brett on account of its natural beauty and geological interest. The subject of the pendant sketch was identified while it was with Agnew’s as Mullion, a cove near the eastern end of the same peninsula. While there was a carriage road nearby, Kynance Bay was landlocked and could be visited only for several hours each day at low tide by descending a steep path passing through a notch in the cliff. Brett, a yachtsman, doubtless reached Kynance and Mullion by sea, as in the 1870s and 1880s he spent his summers sailing the coast. In the summer of 1888, however, he apparently did not travel but instead supervised the building of a new house, Daisyfield, near Putney Heath and made paintings based on earlier pencil sketches.
[2012; adapted from Baetjer 2009]

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