Landing Oysters, Brightlingsea - Watercolour by Arthur Briscoe

Arthur Briscoe RSMA RI RE (1873-1943)
Landing Oysters, Brightlingsea

Watercolour and ink
Signed and dated 1929

Framed and glazed
Overall size including frame: 58.2 x 78.5 cm

Arthur Briscoe decided to become an artist after returning from a World trip with his father, a prominent Liverpool businessman. He studied at the Slade and the Académie Julian in Paris and, upon his return to London, Briscoe initially illustrated books with a strong Pre-Raphaelite influence.

In 1899 he acquired a studio in Malden, Essex, and bought a 3 ton cutter which, with his young family, he would spend eight or nine months a year, sailing to Calais, along the Belgian coast and through the Dutch waterways, constantly sketching and painting in both oil and watercolour. His work was always technically accurate and very evocative of the last years of square-rigged sailing ships.

After service in the Navy during World War One he developed an interest in etching, a medium at which he excelled. He continued to paint, assisted by a number of much loved yachts, until his death in 1943.