The Shallows of Hareslade Cove, Gower

John Brett and his family spent the summer of 1887 at Herbert’s Lodge, Bishopton, on the Gower Peninsula in South Wales. On July 10, he wrote in the family diary, “The romance goes on still like a rippling summer sea: year after year the sun shines upon us and breezes blow gently, yet there is no monotony but each week supplies its own pleasant excitements.” Brett returned to London the following October and organized a solo exhibition in November at his Harley Street studio. Entitled Four Months on the Gower Coast, it consisted of work made during his summer excursion. Almost no one but a few friends and fellow artists attended the exhibition. Brett called the venture “a regular failure—not a single commission resulted and precious few were bought.” The Shallows of Hareslade Cove, Gower may have been one of the works included in this exhibition.