''Ramsgate Sands'', also known as ''Life at the Seaside'', is an

oil-on-canvas Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or copper for several centuries. ...

painting by the English artist

William Powell Frith William Powell Frith (9 January 1819 – 2 November 1909) was an English painter specialising in genre subjects and panoramic narrative works of life in the Victorian era. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1853, presenting ''The Slee ...

, who worked on it from 1851 to 1854. The painting, which depicts a beach scene in

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town and civil parish in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in eastern Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2021 it had a population of 42,027. Ramsgate' ...

, was Frith's first great commercial success: it was exhibited at the

Royal Academy summer exhibition The Summer Exhibition is an open art exhibition held annually by the Royal Academy in Burlington House, Piccadilly in central London, England, during the months of June, July, and August. The exhibition includes paintings, prints, drawings, sc ...

in 1854, and bought by

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

. Frith made a series of similar pictures, showing groups of people in contemporary scenes, including ''

The Derby Day ''The Derby Day'' is a large oil painting showing a panoramic view of Epsom Derby, The Derby, painted by the English artist William Powell Frith over 15 months from 1856 to 1858. It has been described by Christie's as Frith's "undisputed mast ...

'' of 1858, ''

The Railway Station ''The Railway Station'' is an 1862 genre painting by the British artist William Powell Frith.Trotter p.63 The painting is held at Royal Holloway College, with a smaller version in the Royal Collection. Description It depicts a scene at the busy ...

'' of 1862, and '' Private View at the Royal Academy'' of 1883.

Background

After the South Eastern Railway reached

Ramsgate Town railway station Ramsgate Town railway station is a former railway station in Ramsgate, in the Thanet district of Kent, England. It was the seaside resort's first station, but was closed in 1926 when a new, more direct railway line bypassed it and the town's ot ...

in 1846, the town of Ramsgate rapidly became a popular destination for day trips from London. Frith was already a successful artist. He became a member of the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

in 1853, and the painting was based on studies made by Frith during a holiday in Ramsgate in September 1851, where he was inspired by the variety of everyday life.

Dunedin Public Art Gallery The Dunedin Public Art Gallery holds the main public art collection of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. Located in The Octagon in the heart of the city, it is close to the city's public library, Dunedin Town Hall, and other facilities such as ...

holds an oil sketch from 1851–52.

Description

Frith takes advantage of the location to paint people of different social classes in contemporary modern dress. The seaside was a place where the different classes, ages, and sexes could mix without the usual barriers. Frith populates the painting with a variety of

stock characters A stock character, also known as a character archetype, is a type of character in a narrative (e.g. a novel, play, television show, or film) whom audiences recognize across many narratives or as part of a storytelling tradition or convention. Th ...

– a grandmother with a parasol, a gentleman seated reading a newspaper, an over-dressed "swell", a variety of entertainers and vendors. Frith also included a self-portrait: he is looking over the shoulder of the man on the far right, with two ladies and a girl in white in front. The small girl paddling in the sea near the centre of the painting, staring directly out of the picture, is thought to be his daughter. All are viewed from the sea, looking towards the beach, separating the viewer from the scene. Many of the buildings in the background – the clock tower, the granite obelisk erected in 1822, building with battlements on Harbour Parade, and the gable end of the building at the junction of Albion Place and Madeira Walk above the cliffs – remain recognisable today. Unusually, to modern eyes, the characters are wearing their usual clothes on the beach, including

crinoline A crinoline is a stiff or structured petticoat designed to hold out a skirt, popular at various times since the mid-19th century. Originally, crinoline described a stiff fabric made of horsehair ("crin") and cotton or linen which was used to ...

s for the women and

waistcoat A waistcoat ( UK and Commonwealth, or ; colloquially called a weskit) or vest ( US and Canada) is a sleeveless upper-body garment. It is usually worn over a dress shirt and necktie and below a coat as a part of most men's formal wea ...

s for the men, alongside more recognisable seaside images of sandcastles, donkey rides, and a

Punch and Judy Punch and Judy is a traditional puppet show featuring Mr Punch and his wife Judy. The performance consists of a sequence of short scenes, each depicting an interaction between two characters, most typically the anarchic Mr Punch and one other ...

show. Two telescopes hint at people-watching or voyeurism (the morality of women observing men bathing was a contemporary issue, particularly as men often bathed naked).

Bathing machine The bathing machine was a device, popular from the 18th century until the early 20th century, to allow people at beaches to change out of their usual clothes, change into swimwear, and wade in the ocean. Bathing machines were roofed and walled w ...

s are visible in the background, but the painting shows no bathers, only genteel paddling at the edge of the sea. The painting measures . The back of the painting bears the inscription "Life at the Sea side".

Reception

The painting received a mixed reception. It was dismissed by one contemporary commentator as "vulgar Cockney business" or a "tissue of vulgarity"Charles Darwin And Victorian Visual Culture
Jonathan Smith, p.69-71 and it was rejected by several potential buyers before it was exhibited at the

in 1854. However, it became very popular with the viewing public at the exhibition, and it was praised by critics for its realistic depiction of modern life. It was voted the "picture of the year" by the journal ''Royal Academy Pictures'' and was purchased by the printers Lloyd Brothers for 1,000 guineas. When

expressed an interest in buying the painting – she had visited Ramsgate several times in the 1820s and 1830s, staying at

Townley House Townley is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * A. C. Townley (1880–1959), American political organizer, founder the National Non-Partisan League *Alvin Townley (born 1975), American author who writes about adventure with a gre ...

and Albion House – it was sold for the same price to her, and displayed at

Osborne House Osborne House is a former royal residence in East Cowes, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. The house was built between 1845 and 1851 for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as a summer home and rural retreat. Albert designed the house in the style ...

. Lloyd Brothers retained the right to reproduce the painting as an engraving for sale to the public as prints, and Frith may have earned as much as £3,000 from the sales.

Notes

References

*
William Powell Frith - ''Ramsgate Sands''
2 June 2010
A thousand words
''The Guardian'', 11 June 2011
''Water, Leisure and Culture: European Historical Perspectives''
Susan C. Anderson, Bruce Tabb, pp. 89-92 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ramsgate Sands 1854 paintings Paintings by William Powell Frith Paintings in the Royal Collection of the United Kingdom Maritime paintings