button to main menu View of Whitehaven
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Tullie House Museum : 1978.108.177
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©  Tullie House Museum 		image, button to large image
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Painting, oil painting, View of Whitehaven, Cumberland, by Matthias Read, 1690-1706.
Distant view of Whitehaven and its environs seen from an elevated perspective. In the foreground a small group of people has gathered on the hilltop overlooking the town, an impromptu party resulting. Three of them dance a jig whilst four couples carouse in the scant shade offered by two stunted trees. Two men stand looking on. Three cattle wait nearby, one of which has upset a pail of milk.
Four views of Whitehaven by Read survive. This is the earliest and plainest example which shows only one pier in the harbour and a small number of ships. The town is still very small and details of the buildings are unfinished. Whitehaven was the earliest planned town in England thanks to the vision of Sir John Lowther, 1642-1706, the local landower who built up his wealth in coal. The groups of locals dancing and drinking in the foreground of the painting bring life to the scene. The small red and yellow stripe of paint is a mystery.
The painting originally hung in the Grapes Inn, Carlisle.
wxh, image:- 1183x845mm