(Enlarged Photo)

A Breeze in the Channel

Oil on canvas, signed and dated '1891'

By 1891 when this picture was painted, Moore was well established as Britain's foremost painter of the sea. Indeed, as the late Christopher Wood wrote in his 'Dictionary of Victorian Painters': “In the 1880's and 1890's, Moore was regarded as one of England's most important painters, and his work was exhibited throughout Europe”. The French, who awarded Moore the Grand Prix at the Paris Expo of 1889 and later the Légion d'Honneur, were particularly appreciative of his use of colour, 'La Note bleue de Moore'. This can be seen to great effect in this picture, a fine study in Moore's late style, in which his early pre-Raphaelite technique had become looser and more fluid and his colours broadly impressionistic. This picture relates to Moore's Diploma work for the Royal Academy, 'A Summer Breeze in the Channel' (he became a full Royal Academician in 1893), a much larger oil, which is in the Royal Academy Collection.