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Richard Parkes Bonington
1802–28
French Coast with Fishermen
1826
Oil on canvas

Purchased from a Private Collector through Christie’s (General Funds) with assistance from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the National Art Collections Fund and Tate Members 2004
T11900

French Coast with Fishermen was one of two works which introduced Richard Parkes Bonington to a London audience when he first exhibited at the British Institution in February 1826. It is a characteristic fusion of coastal, marine, genre and picturesque architecture distinguished by lightness of touch, economy of composition and luminous colouring, which conveys a vivid sense of atmosphere. The picture was praised for its ‘sunshine, perspective, vigour’, and bought by one of the Institution’s governors, Amabel, Countess de Grey, who collected both Old Masters and contemporary artists. Commissions from collectors including the Duke of Bedford, the Marquess of Lansdowne and Earl Grosvenor soon followed. The picture takes a central place in Tate’s Bonington holdings, alongside the Turner Bequest and other artists, including AW Callcott and William Collins, who knew his work or felt his influence.

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Click on images for more about each highlight

• Joshua Reynolds
  1723–92
  Colonel Acland and Lord Sydney: The Archers
  1769
• Andrea Soldi
  c1703–71
  Portrait of Henry Lannoy Hunter in Oriental Dress, Resting from Hunting, with a Manservant holding Game
  c1733–6
• Richard Parkes Bonington
  1802–28
  French Coast with Fishermen
  1826
• Richard Dadd
  1817–86
  Wandering Musicians
  c1878