327 - Stanhope Alexander Forbes,

Stanhope Alexander Forbes, British 1857-1947- Portrait of a fisherman; oil on card laid down on board, signed 'Stanhope A. Forbes' (lower right) 27.3 x 19.8 cm. Provenance: Private Collection, UK. Note: In 1884 Forbes moved to Newlyn in Cornwall, and soon became a leading figure in the growing colony of artists. Commenting on the wealth of material for artists at Newlyn, he remarked: 'Not only the fishing village itself and the life of the fisher folk, but the country around Newlyn, the moorlands, the little valleys or coombes, the Cornish farms and the agricultural life of the county would occupy many painters' (see 'Painting in Newlyn 1880-1930', Barbican Art Gallery exhibition catalogue, London, 1985, p.111). The present work is characteristic of Forbes's depictions of Newlyn fishermen, a subject to which he returned throughout his career. The fishermen worked year-round, following the seasonal fisheries for mackerel, herring and pilchards, with boats travelling as far north as the Shetland Islands during the herring season. The sitter appears to wear what is likely an oilskin jacket or smock, characteristic of a fisherman's working dress. Such garments were waterproofed by rubbing linseed oil into the cotton and allowing it to dry, creating a protective 'skin' of oil, and were essential for work at sea in all weathers. A similar portrait by Forbes of a fisherman wearing a sou'wester sold for £4,000 at Woolley & Wallis, Wiltshire, on 23 September 2015 (lot 509).