William Henry Margetson
(England 1861–1940)
- Title
- The sea hath its pearls
- Year
- 1897
- Media
- Painting
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 132.3cm diam. stretcher; 163.2 x 162.5 x 9.0cm frame
- Signature & date
- Signed and dated l.l., oil "W H Margetson 1897".
- Credit
- Purchased 1897
- Accession number
- 705
- Location
- 19th c European art
- Further information
The circlet of crabs carved in low relief on the frame of this painting is integral to its success as a work of art. Echoing the seaside theme, and offering closure to an otherwise excessively open composition, the frame participates in the painting quite as constructively as the bending figure and wave-lapped beach. The cool monochrome of the location suggests an English coastal resort, though clearly Margetson had the Mediterranean in mind. His lovely fossicker is dressed to evoke the ancient classical past more than late Victorian England. Indeed, Margetson's rather dry application of pale pigment echoes Roman fresco technique. Like most of the lesser genre painters and portraitists of his day, he succumbed to the ever-virulent strain of Victorian classicism, being influenced by better-known contemporaries such as Leighton and Poynter. It goes without saying that the pearl of the title is a punning allusion to the maiden herself.
AGNSW Handbook, 1999.
- Provenance
- William Margetson (England, b.1861, d.1940), London/England, Purchased by the AGNSW from the artist 1897. Chosen for the Gallery by the Council of the Royal Academy.
- Bibliography (14)
-
Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook (1999), Bruce James (Australia) (Author), Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Director), Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia), Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
British painting 1800-1990 in Australian and New Zealand public collections (1997), Peter Tomory (United Kingdom) (Author), Anne Kirker (New Zealand; Australia, b.1947) (Author), The Beagle Press (Australia), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Art Gallery of New South Wales Handbook (1988), Annabel Davie (Editor), Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia), Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Art Gallery of New South Wales catalogue of British paintings (1987), Renée Free (Australia) (Author), Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Australia's yesterdays (1974-1978), Patricia McDonald (Author).
The Australian women's weekly (07 Jul 1954), Editor Unknown (Editor), Australian Consolidated Press (Australia), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
The Sydney Morning Herald (28 Sep 1952), Editor Unknown (Editor), John Fairfax & Sons (Australia), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
The Sydney Morning Herald (13 Sep 1952), Editor Unknown (Editor), John Fairfax & Sons (Australia), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Australasian art review (01 Apr 1899), Editor Unknown (Editor), Publisher unknown, East Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
The Sydney Morning Herald (23 Mar 1898), Editor Unknown (Editor), Publisher unknown.
Athenaeum (12 Jun 1897), Editor Unknown (Editor), Publisher unknown.
The art-journal (1897), Editor Unknown (Editor), George Virtue (England), London, England.
Royal Academy pictures, 1897 (1897), Royal Academy of Arts (England, estab. 1768) (Author), Cassell and Co. Ltd.
Academy Notes (1897), Editor Unknown (Editor), Publisher unknown, Unknown.
- Exhibition history (2)
-
Royal Academy of Arts, 1897, (1897–1897), at Royal Academy of Arts (England, estab. 1768), Burlington House The Mall London, England, United Kingdom.
Unknown, Walker Art Gallery 1897, (1897–1897), at Walker Art Gallery (England), Liverpool England.