Grace Darling (1815-1842) and her father William Darling (d.1865) save the Survivors from the Wreck of the Steamer 'Forfarshire' on the Farne Rocks, 7th September 1838 (One of a series of eight oil paintings illustrating the history of the English Border)
William Bell Scott (Edinburgh 1811 - Penkill Castle 1890)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1860 (signed and dated)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1854 x 1854 mm (73 x 73 in)
Place of origin
Wallington
Order this imageCollection
Wallington, Northumberland
NT 584371
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Grace Darling (1815-1842) and her Father William Darling (d.1865) save the Survivors from the Wreck of the Steamer 'Forfarshire' on the Farne Rocks, 7th September 1838 by William Bell Scott (Edinburgh 1811 - Penkill Castle 1890), signed and dated, on side of boat, bottom right: W B Scott Jan to Oct 1860. In autumn 1838 after a terrible storm William Darling, the keeper of Longstone Lighthouse, saw the remains of the Forfarshire and a handful of survivors on rocks a mile away on the other side of a fast flowing channel. He was alone, except for his sick wife and Grace their young daughter, so did not believe a rescue was possible until Grace hastily got ready to help him and insisted that they try. Together they launched the coble and rowed out to the wreck and saved eight lives. The woman on the ship wreck is a portrait of Alice Boyd, a great friend of William Bell Scott. One of a series of eight oil paintings illustrating the history of the English border painted between 1856 and 1861.
Provenance
Commissioned in 1855 by Sir Walter Trevelyan to decorate the courtyard at Wallington; began in 1857 and the series was exhibited at regular intervals at the Literary Society in Newcastle and completed in 1861 - the scheme of decoration was finished in 1863/64 when the spandrels high up near the vault were decorated with a progression of eighteen scenes from the Ballad of Chevy Chase, and the lower pilasters painted with local flora by other artists including Ruskin, Arthur Hughes, Lady Trevelyan, as well as the portrait medallions, in the lower spandrels and portrait heads; given with the property to The National Trust in 1941 by Sir Charles Philips Trevelyan, 3rd Bt (1870 – 1958)
Credit line
Wallington, The Trevelyan Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
W B Scott Jan to Oct 1860 (signed and dated)
Makers and roles
William Bell Scott (Edinburgh 1811 - Penkill Castle 1890), artist