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1897
Painting
oil on canvas
132.3cm diam. stretcher; 163.2 x 162.5 x 9.0cm frame
Purchased 1897
705
Art Gallery of NSW, Ground Level, British & European 19th Century Art Galleries, Court 12
Further information
The circlet of crabs carved in low relief on the frame of this painting is integral to its success as a work of art. Echoing the seaside theme, and offering closure to an otherwise excessively open composition, the frame participates in the painting quite as constructively as the bending figure and wave-lapped beach. The cool monochrome of the location suggests an English coastal resort, though clearly Margetson had the Mediterranean in mind. His lovely fossicker is dressed to evoke the ancient classical past more than late Victorian England. Indeed, Margetson's rather dry application of pale pigment echoes Roman fresco technique. Like most of the lesser genre painters and portraitists of his day, he succumbed to the ever-virulent strain of Victorian classicism, being influenced by better-known contemporaries such as Leighton and Poynter. It goes without saying that the pearl of the title is a punning allusion to the maiden herself.
AGNSW Handbook, 1999.
Provenance
William Margetson (England, b.1861, d.1940), London/England, Purchased by the AGNSW from the artist 1897. Chosen for the Gallery by the Council of the Royal Academy.
Bibliography
General/Book; Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook; Bruce James (Australia), Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940); 1999, 51 (colour illus.), 'Western Collection: Paintings and Sculpture' by Bruce James, pg. 17-77.
Scholarly/Book; British painting 1800-1990 in Australian and New Zealand public collections; Peter Tomory (United Kingdom), Anne Kirker (New Zealand; Australia, b.1947); 1997, 129, cat.no. 1417
General/Book; Art Gallery of New South Wales Handbook; Annabel Davie; 1988, 44, 'European' by Renée Free, pg. 36-56.
Book; Art Gallery of New South Wales catalogue of British paintings; Renée Free (Australia); 1987, 123 (illus.)
Manuscript; Australia's yesterdays; Patricia McDonald; 1974-1978, 132
Periodical; The Australian women's weekly; Editor Unknown; 07 Jul 1954
Newspaper; The Sydney Morning Herald; Editor Unknown; 28 Sep 1952, 'Unfashionalble art', Response to Bernard Hesling article.
Newspaper; The Sydney Morning Herald; Editor Unknown; 13 Sep 1952, 'The Sea Hath Pearls, Etc.' by Bernard Hesling.
Periodical; Australasian art review; Editor Unknown; 01 Apr 1899, 16, 'The Sydney Art Gallery's late purchases' by J.G. De Libra.
Newspaper; The Sydney Morning Herald; Editor Unknown; 23 Mar 1898, 3
Periodical; Athenaeum; Editor Unknown; 12 Jun 1897
Periodical; The art-journal; Editor Unknown; 1897, 180
Exhibition catalogue; Royal Academy pictures, 1897; Royal Academy of Arts (England, estab. 1768); 1897, 85
Periodical; Academy Notes; Editor Unknown; 1897
Exhibition venue
Title: Royal Academy of Arts, 1897
Venue: Royal Academy of Arts
Opening: 1897
Closing: 1897
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