Cape Cornwall from Whitesands Bay (1872)

Cape Cornwall from Whitesands Bay was painted in 1872 and is in the Fitzwilliam Museum. Cape Cornwall, near St Just in Penwith, is the only mainland headland in England to bear the title 'cape' and was a point of significant interest for Brett given its dramatic geology — ancient granite exposed by millennia of Atlantic weathering. By 1872 Brett had fully committed to the systematic coastal survey of Britain that would occupy the rest of his career, and the Cornish coast, with its complex igneous geology and powerful Atlantic seas, provided particularly rewarding material. The Fitzwilliam's holding of this work alongside the early Penshurst allows comparison between Brett's youthful picturesque manner and his mature geological naturalism.

The granite geology of Cape Cornwall is markedly different from the chalk and limestone of Brett's Dorset subjects, and he responds with a cooler, darker palette for the rock surfaces. The Atlantic swell, more powerful than the Channel waters he painted to the east, requires a different handling of wave motion and foam. The compositional format follows his mature low-horizon approach.