Caught by the Tide

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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Threatened by a raging sea, two women cling to each other in distress while a boy waves an improvised flag, desperately calling for help. Foaming waves encircle their half-submerged rock. They could be the survivors of a shipwreck; caught by the tide, their lives are at the mercy of the elements. The women’s headdresses and boy’s trousers have been identified as mid-nineteenth-century Breton costumes, and the landscape is probably the rugged coastline of Brittany. This painting was long thought to be by Théodore Géricault, an attribution now rejected. Yet it was no doubt executed by an artist familiar with Géricault’s poignant shipwreck pictures, including his Raft of the Medusa (Louvre, Paris). Its subject may also reflect the trend for paintings of Breton life and history that were fashionable in France in the 1850s.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

Caught by the Tide

Date

1860-90

Medium

Oil on canvas

Measurements

H 64.1 x W 80.6 cm

Accession number

NG4613

Acquisition method

Bought by the Tate Gallery, 1932; transferred 1956

Work type

Painting

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The National Gallery, London

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