A View of Felixstowe

A View of Felixstowe, painted in 1893 and in the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, documents the Suffolk seaside resort at a significant moment in its development. Felixstowe in the 1890s was transforming from a quiet fishing village into a fashionable seaside resort following railway connection in 1877, and its beach and coastal character were changing rapidly. Brett's interest was geological and meteorological rather than social — the beach's shingle and sand, the particular quality of the North Sea light on the Suffolk coast, and the broad flat horizon characteristic of the East Anglian coastline. The National Gallery of Ireland's acquisition of a Brett coastal painting reflects the artist's reputation in these final years of his career.

The East Anglian coast presents Brett with a very different compositional challenge from his Cornish or Welsh subjects — almost no rock, a very flat coastal profile, and the distinctive quality of North Sea light filtered through a typically hazy East Anglian atmosphere. His colour palette is correspondingly more muted and silvery than his Atlantic works.