The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 6, 2024

The Fleet Off the Coast, Beachy Head

The Fleet Off the Coast, Beachy Head

c. 1790–1805
(British, 1760–1810)
England, 18th century
watercolor with graphite underdrawing
Sheet: 34.4 x 48.4 cm (13 9/16 x 19 1/16 in.)
Gift of Lowell Libson in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred M. Rankin, Jr. 2011.411
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Beachy Head, the site depicted in this drawing, worked its way into popular culture and literature around the time that Samuel Atkins made the work, including a song of the Royal Navy and a poem by Charlotte Turner Smith, a contemporary of the artist.

Description

This watercolor depicts the breathtaking headlands of Beachy Head, the highest, most dramatic chalk sea cliffs in the United Kingdom. A marine painter active during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Samuel Atkins patriotically associated Britain’s identity with its coastal geography and famous navy. A fleet of sailing vessels is seen in the distance in full sail, suggesting a rare moment of the entire fleet’s departure.
  • by 1972-?
    (Agnew and Sons, Ltd., London)
    2010
    Private Collection, United States
    probably 2010-2011
    (Lowell Libson, Ltd., London, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)
    2011-
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Lemonedes, Heather. British Drawings: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Exh. Cat. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2013. Mentioned: pp. 44-45, 143, no. 11; Reproduced: p. 45
  • British Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art . The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-May 26, 2013).
    99th Annual Exhibition of Watercolours and Drawings, Agnew and Sons, Ltd., London (January 17 -February 18, 1972).
  • {{cite web|title=The Fleet Off the Coast, Beachy Head|url=false|author=Samuel Atkins|year=c. 1790–1805|access-date=06 May 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2011.411