Harold Knight (British 1874-1961) §
Clifftop View, Land's End
£15,000
Auction: 29 April 2022 from 10:00 BST
Description
signed (lower left), oil on canvas
Dimensions
74.5cm x 58.5cm (29.3in x 23in)
Footnote
Clifftop View, Land’s End is a beautiful example of the images Knight painted of the Cornish coast, in this case the most westerly part of mainland England. Knight’s high viewpoint does full justice to the dramatic granite cliffs, leading the eye from the detailed foreground to the high horizon in the distance. Waves follow the contours of invisible coves and bays on which bright sunshine and dense shadow play. Knight’s excellent draughtsmanship and sensitivity to colour and tone is clear. It bears witness to the declaration in a 1921 article in The Studio about Harold and Laura Knight’s work that the former ‘has devoted himself to the study of the effect of daylight, both in the open and indoors and he has mastered the difficulties created by the subtle variations of tone and colour due to the pervading light. This enables him to introduce into his pictures delicate and beautiful tone-gradations without sacrificing the brilliancy and freshness of his colour-schemes.’ (Ernest G. Halton, ‘Foreword’, Modern Paintings Number One: The Work of Laura and Harold Knight, The Studio Ltd, London, 1921, p. 5).