This late 19th-century oil painting by English artist Edward Robert Smythe (1810-1899) depicts a picturesque bay with buildings, fishing boats, figures and horses. Smythe was a masterly painter of rustic landscapes and an exhibitor at London’s Royal Academy.Produced towards the end of his career, this piece from around 1880 is a fine example of Smythe’s preference for pale light and his respect for traditional crafts. In the foreground, a weary horse rests alongside various equipment designed to pull fishing boats ashore. Further along the beach, we see this in action - a second horse, attached to a ‘skid’, drags a vessel onto the beach. One can imagine the artist marvelling at the strength of these beasts, determined to paint them at work. The location is unknown, but it’s possibly somewhere in East Anglia, such as Felixstowe, where he visited often. He’s handled the gently rippling sea particularly deftly as it rolls across the sands. The breakers are illuminated with dashes of i...