Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Chantrey Bequest
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/frank-bramley-51" aria-label="More by Frank Bramley" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Frank Bramley</a>
A Hopeless Dawn
Presented by the Trustees of the Chantrey Bequest 1888
actions: expressive
actions: postures and motions
adults
architecture
birth to death
birth to death
book, ‘Bible’
bottle
bowl
bread
candle
chair
comforting
dawn
death - extinguished candle
domestic
emotions and human qualities
emotions, concepts and ideas
family
features
fine art and design, named works
food and drink
furnishings
grief
heating and lighting
interiors
jug
Kingsley, Charles, ‘The Three Fishers’
literature (not Shakespeare)
literature and fiction
living room
mourning
objects
people
Raphael, painting, ‘Christ Giving the Keys to St Peter’
reading, writing, printed matter
reclining
Ruskin, John, ‘The Harbours of England’
sea
seascapes and coasts
society
symbols and personifications
table
table cloth
times of the day
vessels and containers
widow
wife
window
woman
<p>The title of this painting comes from a passage by John Ruskin, which affirms that Christ is at the helm of every boat. The kneeling woman, comforted by her mother-in-law, realises that her husband is lost at sea, but the open Bible, altar-like table and print on the wall hint at the consolations of religion.</p><p><em>Gallery label, May 2007</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
29 August 2001 – 25 July 2005
2005-07-25
29 August 2001
2001-08-29
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2001-08-29
Art and Victorian Society
Collection based display
11 December 2006 – 2 December 2007
2007-12-02
1 December 2006 – 2 December 2007
2007-12-02
2006-12-01
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
15 March 2008 – 7 June 2008
2008-06-07
2008-03-15
Penlee House Gallery & Museum (Penzance, UK)
2006-12-11
James Clarke Hook and Painters of the Sea
Collection based display
15 March 2008 – 7 June 2008
2008-06-07
15 March 2008 – 7 June 2008
2008-06-07
2008-03-15
Penlee House Gallery & Museum (Penzance, UK)
2008-03-15
Sea and Coasts
Loan-out
5 November 2012 – 20 July 2014
2014-07-20
5 November 2012 – 20 July 2014
2014-07-20
2012-11-05
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2012-11-05
Gallery 9
Collection based display
3 April 2015 – 13 September 2015
2015-09-13
3 April 2015 – 7 June 2015
2015-06-07
2015-04-03
Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery (Nottingham, UK)
http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk
20 June 2015 – 13 September 2015
2015-09-13
2015-06-20
Penlee House Gallery & Museum (Penzance, UK)
2015-04-03
When Cornwall Came to Nottingham: 1894 Revisited
Loan-out
21 March 2020 – 15 April 2021
2021-04-15
21 March 2020 – 15 April 2021
2021-04-15
2020-03-21
Penlee House Gallery & Museum (Penzance, UK)
2020-03-21
Newlyn School Interiors
Loan-out
8 June 2021 – 14 January 2024
2024-01-14
8 July 2021 – 14 November 2021
2021-11-14
2021-07-08
Museum of Art Pudong (Shanghai, China)
2021-06-08
Light
Tate partnerships & programmes
A Hopeless Dawn
support: 1226 × 1676 mm
frame: 1595 × 2055 × 175 mm
Presented by the Trustees of the <a href="/search?gid=999999977" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Chantrey Bequest</a> 1888
<p>The title of this painting comes from a passage by John Ruskin, which affirms that Christ is at the helm of every boat. The kneeling woman, comforted by her mother-in-law, realises that her husband is lost at sea, but the open Bible, altar-like table and print on the wall hint at the consolations of religion.</p>

Display caption
2007-05-03T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N01627</b>	A HOPELESS DAWN 1888
<br/> 
<br/>Inscr. ‘Frank Bramley. 88’ b.l.
<br/>Canvas, 48 1/4×66 (122·5×168).
<br/>Chantrey Purchase from the artist 1888.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> R.A., 1888 (351); <i>Recently Deceased Members</i>, R.A., winter 1922 (141).
<br/><i>Lit:</i> Alice Meynell, ‘Newlyn’ in <i>Art Journal</i>, 1889, p.100; <i>Art Journal</i>, 1890, p.45, repr. facing p.33 from engraving by James Dobie.
<br/><i>Repr:</i>
<i>The Nation's Pictures</i>, 1901, 1, p.19 (in colour); <i>Tate Gallery Illustrations</i>, 1928, pl.73; Hesketh Hubbard, <i>A Hundred Years of British Painting 1851–1951</i>, 1951, pl.51.</p>
<p>Painted at <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/n/newlyn-school" title="Glossary definition for 'Newlyn School'"><span>Newlyn</span></a>, Cornwall, and exhibited at the R.A. with the following quotation from Ruskin:</p>
<p>‘Human effort and sorrow going on perpetually from age to age; waves rolling for ever and winds moaning, and faithful hearts wasting and sickening for ever, and brave lives dashed away about the rattling beach like weeds for ever; and still, at the helm of every lonely boat, through starless night and hopeless dawn, His hand, who spreads the fisher's net over the dust of the Sidonian palaces, and gave unto the fisher's hand the keys of the kingdom of heaven.’</p>
<p>The <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/print" title="Glossary definition for 'Print'"><span>print</span></a> after Raphael's cartoon of ‘Christ giving the Keys to St Peter’ represented on the wall on the right has evidently been placed there deliberately to bear out the text. An open Bible lies in front of the missing fisherman's mother who is comforting the young wife. A candle placed on the window-sill as a beacon has flickered out.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, I</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-23T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: expressive actions: postures and motions adults architecture birth to death birth to death book, ‘Bible’ bottle bowl bread candle chair comforting dawn death - extinguished candle domestic emotions and human qualities emotions, concepts and ideas family features fine art and design, named works food and drink furnishings grief heating and lighting interiors jug Kingsley, Charles, ‘The Three Fishers’ literature and fiction literature (not Shakespeare) living room mourning objects people Raphael, painting, ‘Christ Giving the Keys to St Peter’ reading, writing, printed matter reclining Ruskin, John, ‘The Harbours of England’ sea seascapes and coasts society symbols and personifications table table cloth times of the day vessels and containers widow wife window woman