This is one of many plein-air oil sketches Henry Scott Tuke (1858 - 1929) made of local youths after 1885, when he moved to Falmouth. Painted in broad rapid brushstrokes, he was more concerned with capturing the effect of dappled sunlight on the boy’s skin than any volumetric rendering of his body. Tuke commented that he preferred to work in the open air, on ‘quiet beaches, some of them hardly accessible by boat, where one may paint from the life model undisturbed’. Falmouth’s beaches were therefore ideal, because they were south facing and full of barnacle-covered rocks and warm shallow pools that afforded his nude models some privacy, and gave them lots of options for posing.
[Oil on panel, 12 x 19 cm]
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