Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Chantrey Bequest
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/william-lionel-wyllie-618" aria-label="More by William Lionel Wyllie" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">William Lionel Wyllie</a>
Toil Glitter Grime and Wealth on a Flowing Tide
Presented by the Trustees of the Chantrey Bequest 1883
adults
architecture
boat, barge
boat, steam
boatman
coal
dock
dockyard
England
group
groups
heating and lighting
industrial
London - non-specific
man
objects
people
places
river
River Thames, Pool of London
ship, sailing
society
townscapes / man-made features
trading and commercial
transport: water
UK countries and regions
UK London
UK natural features
water: inland
work and occupations
<p>Wyllie’s marine paintings capture the busy working life of the Thames in its heyday when London was the biggest and richest port in the world. This scene has been identified as the Pool of London below London Bridge, looking towards the dome of the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich.</p><p>The title of the picture is evoked by the contrast between the dirt and toil of the men working on the coal barge and the implied wealth that is generated when coal is converted into steam for industry.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
5 May 2003 – 13 April 2004
2004-04-13
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2003-05-05
London: Modern City
Collection based display
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
Toil, Glitter, Grime and Wealth on a Flowing Tide
support: 1156 × 1651 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> 1883
<p>Wyllie's marine pictures give a wonderful feeling of the busy working life of the Thames in its heyday, when London was the biggest and richest port in the world. In images such as this, his first successful work, he combines a strong <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/r/realism" title="Glossary definition for 'Realism'"><span>realist</span></a> style with a sense of the romance of ships and maritime trade.

</p><p>Wyllie spent much of his time living on a boat in the lower Thames and <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/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> directly from nature. For some time this picture was thought to have been painted at Greenwich, but has recently been identified as the Pool of London below London Bridge, looking west towards the dome of St Paul's Cathedral in the distance. As Archibald has noted, 'The subject of this picture - tugs working barges - was something of an innovation, as painters had formerly concentrated on the more decorative types of vessels; however Wyllie's obsessive love for the sea and anything that floated on it, embraced every type and size of vessel.  It moved him to cover every aspect of the working river and set a fashion that other artists followed.' (Archibald, p.204.)

</p><p>Wyllie depicts in detail the huge variety of working boats on the river.  The flat barges in the foreground, carrying their cargoes of coal and timber, were called lighters.  They were towed by tugs and manoeuvred into position with large oars, which also served as rudders. On the far left of the picture the barge with a low mast was called a stumpie, the two-masted barge beside it is a ketch.  Behind them are the tall masts of a brig, which has been brought into dry dock. On the far right of the picture, by way of contrast, Wyllie includes the two funnels of a passenger steamer, a symbol of leisure rather than work. The title of the picture is evoked by the contrast between the dirt and toil of the men working on the coal barge and the implied wealth that is generated when coal is converted into steam for industry. The dirt and grime produced by the tugs, belching their fumes into the sky, mingles with the splendour of two full-rigged ships behind them. 

</p><p>Wyllie was best known for his views of the Thames, and in 1884 held an exhibition entitled <i>The Tidal Thames</i> at the Fine Art Society in London. He also painted pictures of other important harbours and seaports in Britain and abroad, as well as ship <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/portrait" title="Glossary definition for 'Portrait'"><span>portraits</span></a>, sea battles and yachting scenes.

</p><p><b>Further reading:<br/></b>E.H.H. Archibald, <i>Dictionary of Sea Painters</i>, Woodbridge 1980, revised edition 2000, p.204.<br/>Christopher Wood, <i>Victorian Painting</i>, London 1999, p.351.

</p><p>Frances Fowle<br/>December 2000</p>
Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<div class="pbodytext">
<span class="text18">Wyllie’s marine <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/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a> capture the busy </span><span class="text16">working life of the Thames in its heyday when London was the      biggest and richest port in the world. This scene has been identified as      the Pool of London below </span><span class="text18">London Bridge, looking      towards the dome  of the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich.</span><span class="text0">
<br/> </span>
</div>
<div class="para10">
<span class="text0">
<br/> </span>
</div>
<div class="pbodytext">
<span class="text0">The title of the picture is evoked by the </span><span class="text16">contrast between the dirt and toil of the men working on the      coal barge and the</span><span class="text0"> </span><span class="text17">implied      wealth that is generated when</span><span class="text0"> </span><span class="text16">coal is converted into steam for industry. </span><span class="text0">
<br/> </span>
</div>

Display caption
2004-09-09T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N01580</b> TOIL, GLITTER, GRIME AND WEALTH ON A FLOWING TIDE 1883</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Inscr. ‘W. L. Wyllie 1883’ b.r.
<br/>Canvas, 45 1/2×65 (115·5×165).
<br/>Chantrey Purchase from the artist 1883.
<br/><i>Exh:</i>
R.A., 1883 (1493); R.A., <i>Late Members</i>, winter 1933 (615).
<br/><i>Repr:</i>
Sir Edward J. Poynter, <i>The National Gallery</i>, III, 1900, p.395; Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge, G.C.B., <i>W. L. Wyllie, R.A.</i>, 1907, p.27.</p>
<p>The artist spent much of his time living on a boat in the Lower Thames and <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/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> direct from nature. This painting shows the Thames below London Bridge with the Isle of Dogs and the domes of Greenwich Hospital in the distance. One of the preliminary <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawings</span></a> for it is reproduced in Bridge, <i>op. cit</i>., p.16, and a drawing of the entire <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a>, probably done from the finished picture, in <i>Magazine of Art</i>, 1884, p.309.</p>
<p>Wyllie made an <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/e/etching" title="Glossary definition for 'Etching'"><span>etching</span></a> after this picture (published by Robert Dunthorne) which was exhibited at the Royal <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/a/academy" title="Glossary definition for 'Academy'"><span>Academy</span></a> in 1884 (1392).</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, II
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-23T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
adults architecture boat, barge boatman boat, steam coal dock dockyard England group groups heating and lighting industrial London - non-specific man objects people places river River Thames, Pool of London ship, sailing society townscapes / man-made features trading and commercial transport: water UK countries and regions UK London UK natural features water: inland work and occupations