The Frigate 'Surprise' at Anchor off Great Yarmouth, Norfolk
Date:
ca. 1775
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
30 x 57 inches (76.2 x 144.8 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1981.25.364
Gallery Label:
This coastal view is an example of Francis Holman’s common formula for large works: a panoramic scene in wide rectangular format, with the horizon set no more than a third of the way from the bottom. Above, protruding into an expansive sky, are not only ships’ masts but also the salient features of the often quite distant coast, such as the Yarmouth church spires here, much as navigators would have first seen them when approaching land. Gallery label for Spreading Canvas - Eighteenth-Century British Marine Painting (Yale Center for British Art, 2016-09-09 - 2016-12-04)