RSA Scottish Art
Coastal Scene
 | Artist: John Wilson Ewbank |
| Title: Coastal Scene | |
| Year: 1820 | |
| Medium: oil on canvas | |
| Dimensions: | |
| Suggested topic: natural environment | |
| Source: RSA Diploma Collection | |
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| Open print version of this work | |
| Description: John Wilson Ewbank gave up working as an apprentice housepainter to train under the landscape painter Alexander Nasmyth. He concentrated mainly on landscapes and seascapes, but also worked on historical themes.Coastal Scene is a seascape from the East Coast of Scotland and takes the destructive power of the sea as its main theme. The powerful waves dominate the figures on the rocks, who are trying to salvage items from the wreck of a ship that is floating in the sea around them.Drama is conveyed through the use of tone in the sky - the sunlight struggles to reach out from behind thundery clouds - and the sense of scale shown by the dominant cliffs receding into the distance. The figures are dwarfed by the surrounding landscape; this shows how powerless man is against the forces of nature.The carefully staged composition of the painting leads the eye around the whole scene, but is offset by the use of loose brushwork to describe the pounding waves. The artist is telling us a story. The sea on this occasion is not a provider, but a destroyer. | |