Lot 108: Wilfred Jenkins, 19th Century

Wilfred Jenkins, 19th Century
East Cliff, Whitby
signed 'Wilfred Jenkins' (lower right) and further signed and inscribed 'East Cliff, Whitby/Wilfred Jenkins' (on the reverse)
oil on board
11 x 15 in. (27.9 x 38.1 cm.)

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Wilfred Jenkins was a close follower of John Atkinson Grimshaw, and flourished in the second half of the 19th Century.

Famed and collected for his nocturnal views, East Cliff, Whitby Harbour is a highly atmospheric example of Victorian romantic painting. The almost supernatural luminescent effect was captured by the artist through applying thin translucent layers of oil paint upon a white ground (a technique adhered to by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood).

BRAM STOKER - DRACULA


East Cliff, Whitby has a notable connection with Victorian Gothic literature - most notably Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897), in which the small fishing port played an integral role. It is here that the arrival of Dracula was set, in the form of a great black dog leaping from the doomed ship Demeter as it crashed upon the Whitby shoreline. It was here too that the character Lucy was seduced by the Count, and turned into a vampire.

Jenkins would have painted the harbour at around the time that Stoker penned his famous novel, and it is possible that they were both in Whitby at the same time; indeed, one can almost sense the ship's impending arrival in the painting.

Stoker frequently holidayed in Whitby, both before, during and after writing his famous work, and the macabre tales from local fishermen were a source of great influence and inspiration. The ship, Demeter, was based upon the Russian schooner Demetrius which had run aground on the coast only a few years before he began visiting. Carrying a cargo of coffins, bodies and their caskets were washed upon the shore for some time after. In the novel, the Demeter was carrying a cargo of coffins, in which Dracula was hidden.

A memorial has been erected at Whitby at the spot where it is believed that Stoker decided upon this part of the novel.