Kynance

The Artist: Brett was influenced by the work of the Pre-Raphaelites and the writings of the leading art critic and theorist John Ruskin (1819–1900), which promoted the intensive observation of nature. He was known for his accurate and detailed depictions of the natural world, specializing in views of sea and sky and coastal subjects. His paintings reflect his keen interest in meteorology, astronomy, and geology. He was a member of the Royal Astronomical Society and an associate of the Royal Academy of Arts, the preeminent artistic institution in Britain during the nineteenth century.

The Painting: This oil sketch, dated and incised at lower right “Kynance 27 Sep 88,” depicts the Bishop Rock in Kynance Cove in Cornwall, situated on the Lizard peninsula north and west of Lizard Point, the southernmost tip of the British mainland (see fig. 1 above). Kynance Cove could be visited only for several hours each day at low tide by descending a steep path through a notch in the cliffs, but period guidebooks deemed the views well worth the trouble. Brett’s attention was clearly drawn by the unusual red serpentinite rocks that are one of the distinguishing attractions of the region, known for its natural beauty and geological formations (see Phagan 2018).

The inscription on the painting indicates that it is one of the oil studies that Brett made on site during a trip to the Cornish coast in late September and early October 1888 in preparation for "The Lion, the Lizard and the Stags" (1889, private collection), a monumental scene of Lizard Point and two rock formations called the Lion and the Stags. In his pocket diary entry on October 6, Brett mentioned that he had “got eight sketches,” all of which Gridley sites within half a mile of Kynance and Asparagus Island on the west Lizard promontory.[1] The Met’s painting, made near the outset of Brett’s trip, is similar to a pencil drawing made across two pages in one of Brett’s sketchbooks (John Brett Sketchbook 11, 1862, 1888, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, PAF8914). The drawing is inscribed with the date "28 September 88" and the note "The Bishop Rock in a sea fog / no detail but fine marine / chiaroscuro and great sea. / no horizon." It would be logical to assume that the drawing preceded the composition in oils and provided the basis for it, but that timetable is complicated by Brett’s dating the oil sketch to September 27 and the pencil drawing to the day after, and by the different weather conditions described in the two works. The tide is also lower in the oil than in the drawing. The puzzle is difficult to unravel without more information about Brett’s working methods and the relation among the sketches made at Kynance in autumn 1888, many of which are unlocated.[2]

The Met’s picture was included in the studio sale that followed John Brett’s death in 1902, where it was called Serpentine Rock, Kynance.[3] In 1967, The Met’s oil sketch was sold to Agnew’s as a pair with a painting of the same size, Rocky Shore with Breakers, which depicts Mullion Cove near the eastern end of the Lizard peninsula (see Brett 2010, p. 220, no. 787). Kynance was acquired from Agnew’s by Theodore Rousseau, Jr., The Metropolitan Museum’s curator of European paintings, who bequeathed the picture to the Museum in 1973. It has never been treated, or even varnished, and is in a perfect state.

Alison Hokanson 2021; adapted and updated from Baetjer 2009

[1] The painting campaign is detailed in Gridley 2005 and Payne 2010. The related works are catalogued in Brett 2010.
[2] I am grateful to Charles Brett for sharing his research into our painting, including the existence of the related drawing at the Maritime Museum, and his thoughts on the dating. Additional thanks are due to Katherine Gizzard at the Royal Museums Greenwich for her assistance with John Brett’s sketchbook.
[3] Catalogue of the Remaining Works of John Brett, A.R.A., sale cat., Christie’s, London, February 15, 1902, no. 48. The catalogue includes a second work with the same title, no. 56, which is thought to date to the same visit to Cornwall. The titles are maintained in Brett 2010, p. 234, nos. 1269 and 1270.

Inscription: Dated and inscribed (lower right): Kynance 27 Sep 88

the artist, London (until d.1902; his studio sale, Christie's, London, February 15, 1902, no. 48, for 7 1/2 gns. to Nasmyth); private collection, Sussex (until 1967; sale, Sotheby's, London, February 8, 1967, no. 191, as "Kynance, a view of the shore at low tide," one of a pair, for £55 to Agnew); [Agnew, London, 1967; sold to Rousseau]; Theodore Rousseau Jr., New York (1967–d. 1973)

Poughkeepsie. Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College. "Past Time: Geology in European and American Art," September 21–December 9, 2018, no. 9.

Ithaca, New York. Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University. "Past Time: Geology in European and American Art," February 16–May 12, 2019, no. 9.

Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 209, ill.

Christopher Gridley. "Two Round Trips to Sydney: John Brett's 'The Lion, the Lizard, and the Stags,' 1889." British Art Journal 6 (Spring/Summer 2005), pp. 50–51 nn. 18, 19, cites Brett's diary entries of September 26 and October 6, 1888 (private collection) to establish that Brett went to Kynance with his wife, traveling all night to arrive by September 26 to catch the "summer window" required to paint this location, and that he returned from the expedition with eight sketches, including one signed "Kynance 28 Sept '88'" and presumably this one; remarks that all of these small oil sketches were completed within half a mile of Kynance and Asparagus Island on the west Lizard promontory.

Katharine Baetjer. British Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1575–1875. New York, 2009, pp. 289–90, no. 137, ill. (color).

Christiana Payne. John Brett: Pre-Raphaelite Landscape Painter. New Haven, 2010, pp. 165–66, discusses Brett's late September 1888 sketching trip to Kynance Cove as preparation for his commissioned painting "The Lion, the Lizard and the Stags" (1889, private collection).

Charles Brett in Christiana Payne. John Brett: Pre-Raphaelite Landscape Painter. New Haven, 2010, p. 234, no. 1269, as "Serpentine Rock, Kynance"; dates it September 28, 1888; provides early provenance information.

Patricia Phagan. Past Time: Geology in European and American Art. Exh. cat., Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College. London, 2018, pp. 18, 50, 122, no. 9, ill. p. 51 (color), includes this sketch among those painted at Kynance cove that September as studies for "The Lion, the Lizard, and the Stags"; notes that the densely painted rocks capture the rare red and green serpentinite of the cliffs at Kynance and that the two rock formations at left probably had previously formed a natural arch that had since eroded.

The back of the canvas is stamped: PREPARED BY / WINDSOR & NEWTON / LIMITED / 38, RATHBONE PLACE / LONDON. The painting was framed by Agnew.