1954
Oil on canvas
122 x 182.8 cm
View through a Window or Door Gatherings | Crowds | Festivities Harlequins | Pierrots | Clowns Birds Eye View Animals | Birds Music | Dance All Works in RA Summer Exhibitions 1937 to 1993 Sunrises | Sunsets Works | 1950 to 1959 Towns | Town Life | Buildings Bonfires | Flames | Smoke All Works in Public Collections Ships | Boats | Harbours | Ports Narrative The Art of Richard Eurich Humour / Satire Families
Recto: Signed and dated lower left: R. Eurich. 1954.
Aka: Queen of the Sea, 1911 [RA (1954)]; The Queen of the Sea, 1911 [Bradford, and Southampton]; Whitby, Queen of the Sea, 1911
England The North Whitby Yorkshire Academy Jack Royal Royal Academy of Arts Union Union Jack flag Whitby air anchor architecture audience aviary baby balcony balloon band base bass drum bathers beached beached boats bedroom birdcage birds black boat boathouse boy brass brass band brick building bus candles celebration charabanc children choir chorus collection columns conductor coronation crowd dancing double double bass drum dusk electric ensign ethnic evening figures flag flagpole flags flowers fountain garden harbour harp hat hats hill horn hot hot air balloon housing jetty ladder lamp lighthouses maid man in swimming trunks masted master mayor mayoress men musical instrument orchestra painting pajamas plaque promenade public public collection quayside red roses rowing rowing boat sea ships signal singers soloist spectators statue steamship summer sunsets swimmers swimming table tea topographical view trumpet two two master urban landscape vehicles walls warehouse water white women woman femaleThis extraordinarily rich picture is a composite memory of when Dad was 8 years old. He can be seen at one of the upstairs’ windows, a dark recessive figure amidst all the light and splendour. So many of his favourite themes are here! The whole scene is Whitby-esque with the harbour walls with their lighthouses and the steeply rising landscape. There are clowns, a walled garden complete with its own mysterious hidden atmosphere, a table laid for a meal and a celebratory brass band… not to mention the gorgeous ships all dressed for the occasion. The statue …
This extraordinarily rich picture is a composite memory of when Dad was 8 years old. He can be seen at one of the upstairs’ windows, a dark recessive figure amidst all the light and splendour. So many of his favourite themes are here! The whole scene is Whitby-esque with the harbour walls with their lighthouses and the steeply rising landscape. There are clowns, a walled garden complete with its own mysterious hidden atmosphere, a table laid for a meal and a celebratory brass band… not to mention the gorgeous ships all dressed for the occasion. The statue seems to be a sort of staid English version of Botticelli’s Venus perching on her shell. She is the Queen of the Sea and all these little figures are her subjects.
There is another one of Richard's hidden touches of humour in this painting. The plaque on the building on the right is inscribed "Richard Eurich stayed here, 1911".
The two iconic lighthouses at Whitby's harbour entrance inspired other RE paintings. Scroll through the Related section below.
detail top left
Image ©
Royal Academy of Arts
detail bottom left
Image ©
Royal Academy of Arts
detail right
Coast Scene with Rainbow (1952-53)
None of Richard’s holiday paintings survive but this ‘Coast Scene with Rainbow’ of 1953, surely harks back to his excitement at the first sight of Whitby that day
Image ©
Crown Copyright, UK
Whitby, North Yorkshire, to Represent Sheffield on Holiday (1960-61)
Image ©
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
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