James Webb (1825-1895) - Le Mont Saint-michel

James Webb (1825-1895), "le Mont Saint Michel"
Oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right "James Webb 1856"

Originally from Chelsea in London, James Webb was born into a family of artists. His father Archibald Webb and brother Byron Webb were also noted painters. He excelled in dramatic paintings of coastal and harbor scenes and particularly enjoyed painting famous sites on rocky coasts. From 1850 to 1888, he exhibited in London at the Royal Academy and the British Institute of the New Watercolor Society and the Grosvenor Galleries. Today his works are preserved mainly in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Tate gallery, as well as almost all the provincial galleries in England; the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich; City Art Gallery, Glasgow; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.

Our work, dated 1856, represents a preparatory study for a painting exhibited at the Tate Gallery, entitled “Mont Saint-Michel, Normandy”. In this composition, the majestic Mont Saint-Michel stands proudly in the background, emerging above a stormy sea. While a family of fishermen works to reach the shore as quickly as possible, a mother, watching over her offspring, rushes before the tide submerges them. The dark, turbulent clouds accentuate the striking contrast between the immutable serenity of this emblematic place and the power of sometimes hostile nature.