Audio description:
Sketch for 'A Hopeless Dawn' by Frank Bramley
Penlee House Gallery & Museum

The painting in front of you is ÔSketch for ÔA Hopeless DawnÕÕ by the artist Frank Bramley.  It is an oil on canvas, measuring 34 centimetres high by 45 centimetres wide, which is 13 inches high by 17 inches wide, in an ornate gold frame.  The painting is a preparatory study for a much larger oil painting by Frank Bramley called ÔA Hopeless DawnÕ, which was painted in 1888 and is now in the Tate Gallery collection.  

The picture is of a cottage interior, probably in Newlyn, and shows two female figures in front of a window.  The window, formed of small panes of glass, runs across the top of the painting from the centre to the right. It has three sections, each with six panes of glass.  Through the small panes the sky, depicted in grey with white highlights, and the sea, in a muted blue, can be seen.  

Inside the cottage, on the right-hand-side of the painting, are the two female figures.  Although their facial features are indistinct, the posture of both figures suggests that they are distressed, almost grief-stricken.  The older of the two women is seated on a recessed window seat, typical of a Newlyn cottage.  Her head is bowed, her hair is light grey and she wears a dark top and a long skirt painted in a bluey-grey hue.  The other figure, a younger woman, is slumped on the floor by the older womanÕs side.  Her arms are extended across the older woman's lap, her forearms raised as if in prayer.  Her head, with its fair hair and fringe, burrows into the lap of her companion.  She wears a large, predominantly white apron; the brush strokes of the flat, square paintbrush, commonly used by the Newlyn School artists, are clearly visible.  

On the left-hand-side of the painting is a rectangular table covered with a white cloth.  Square brush strokes are again clearly evident in the painting of the cloth, which has a frayed and ragged edge.  The table is laid in an organised way with bowls and cups in greys and browns with white highlights.  There is a candlestick holding a lit candle on the far left of the table; its flame seems to be flickering.  Turned legs appear below the cloth at each corner of the table, joined by stretchers.  There is a faint oval outline, possibly the curved back of a chair, behind the table.  It has been suggested that the table is set to resemble an altar, and that the young womanÕs arms are raised in prayer.  Or perhaps it is just laid for a meal to welcome home the returning fisherman.

The cottage wall behind the table on the left-hand-side of the painting is a very dark brown and the floor, which stretches across the bottom of the painting, is painted in greys and browns.  The cottage wall to the right of the window is also dark brown with a vague outline of a domed object, perhaps some sort of container.  Overall dark colours dominate the painting; however, the white highlights of the sky through the window, the white of the tablecloth and the white of the younger woman's apron form a central triangle of bright highlights within the dark interior.

The window seat, painted in tones of grey and brown, is set in an alcove which shows the thickness of the cottage walls.  The wall around the alcove is painted in pale greys and browns.  A candlestick sits on the windowsill; there is no candle in it but perhaps a candle had once burned to light the way home for the fisherman who lived here.

The painting portrays a story of hope, love and loss, and the dangers faced by those who make their living from the sea.  It is as relevant and powerful today as when it was first painted.  

END OF AUDIO DESCRIPTION