This late-19th-century oil painting by British artist Allen G Folliott-Stokes (1855-1939) depicts an evening view with a parish church and various coastal buildings. Folliott-Stokes was a free-spirited painter, poet and author known for impressionistic landscapes and enthusiastic Cornish travel guides. He was a contributor to the late 19th-century ‘St Ives School’.Red brick facades of Cornish dwellings are subdued by the weary haze of a falling sun. The sea shimmers, emphasising a strip of reflected golden light. A church stands prominently, casting its eye towards distant vessels.Hailing from the leafy parish of Goring in Oxfordshire, Folliott-Stokes’ father was the local Vicar, so one assumes he was raised in a rather pious and evangelical setting. At around 15, he enrolled at a private school in Drayton run by the Reverend Arthur James Williams, but two years later, became an apprentice in the Royal Navy - following in his grandfather’s footsteps. Given the artist’s somewhat...