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Source Description
This watercolor depicts the breathtaking headlands of Beachy Head, the highest, most dramatic chalk sea cliffs in the United Kingdom. A marine painter active during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Samuel Atkins patriotically associated Britain’s identity with its coastal geography and famous navy. A fleet of sailing vessels is seen in the distance in full sail, suggesting a rare moment of the entire fleet’s departure.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
169594
label
The Fleet Off the Coast, Beachy Head
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
169594
contentType
drawing
title
The Fleet Off the Coast, Beachy Head
description
This watercolor depicts the breathtaking headlands of Beachy Head, the highest, most dramatic chalk sea cliffs in the United Kingdom. A marine painter active during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Samuel Atkins patriotically associated Britain’s identity with its coastal geography and famous navy. A fleet of sailing vessels is seen in the distance in full sail, suggesting a rare moment of the entire fleet’s departure.
date
c. 1790–1805
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q80077093
creators
53430
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Sheet: 34.4 x 48.4 cm (13 9/16 x 19 1/16 in.)
cul
England, 18th century
accession
2011.411
Source extras
tec
watercolor with graphite underdrawing
tombstone
The Fleet Off the Coast, Beachy Head, c. 1790–1805. Samuel Atkins (British, 1760–1810). Watercolor with graphite underdrawing; sheet: 34.4 x 48.4 cm (13 9/16 x 19 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Lowell Libson in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred M. Rankin Jr., 2011.411
collection
DR - British
inscriptions
inscription
signed, at lower left, in brown ink: Atkins
didYouKnow
Beachy Head, the site depicted in this drawing, worked its way into popular culture and literature around the time that Samuel Atkins made the work, including a song of the Royal Navy and a poem by Charlotte Turner Smith, a contemporary of the artist.
citations
citation
Lemonedes, Heather. <em>British Drawings: The Cleveland Museum of Art. </em>Exh. Cat. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2013.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 44-45, 143, no. 11; Reproduced: p. 45
creditline
Gift of Lowell Libson in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred M. Rankin Jr.
updatedAt
2026-05-29 08:42:34.793000
sourceId
169594
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - British
med
watercolor with graphite underdrawing
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
736f08781fbc969e