Faces of Cornwall

Portrait of Humphry Davy John Jackson Watercolour	Peter and Anne Garnier Jill Garnier Oil on canvas Private Collection	Portrait of Elizabeth Forbes Stanhope Forbes Oil on canvas Penlee House, on loan from Newlyn Art Gallery

Over the past centuries, Cornwall has been blessed with a rich assortment of visiting and resident artists, documenting its population. ‘Faces of Cornwall’ presented an intriguing assortment of portraits of people associated with Cornwall, ranging from stiff formal portraits of the great and the good to intimate studies of humble fisherfolk. Alongside paintings attributed to anonymous artists were works by famous painters such as ‘the Cornish Wonder’, John Opie (1761 - 1807), Stanhope Forbes (1857 - 1947), Harold Harvey (1874 - 1941) and Dod Procter (1890 - 1972). Monumental group portraits mingled with delicate 18^th century miniatures, portrait busts and 20^th century photographs. Bringing together works from private and public collections, as well as some rarely seen paintings from Penlee House’s own collections, this exhibition intrigued and entertained visitors. 

Return to homepage