Sandown Bay, from near Shanklin Chine, Isle of Wight
Date:
ca. 1827
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
36 x 52 inches (91.4 x 132.1 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1976.7.31
Gallery Label:
John Glover, who was a major figure in the Regency art world, traveled on horseback throughout Britain in search of picturesque views. This is the more remarkable because he weighed 250 pounds and had two clubfeet. The Isle of Wight had been explored from the 1790s by, among others, J. M. W. Turner and Glover's friends, the watercolorists George Barrett and Peter de Wint. Although he had previously toured to the southwest of England, Glover did not cross to the Isle of Wight until 1826. The rugged cliff-top, a vantage point for ramblers; the empty drop to the beach; the impressive effects in the lowering sky; and the puny insignificance of the human activity below it-all conform to the general pattern of sublime-romantic view painting. In 1830, Glover emigrated with his family to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) in Australia. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2005