Provenance:

Private Collection, UK

Description:

Born in London to Anne Roberts and the celebrated landscape painter Alfred de Breanski snr, Alfred was destined to life as a painter. Both parents were celebrated painters in their own right (Alfred snr in particular for his atmospheric Highland landscapes) and his uncle, Gustave, was a noted seascape painter. He trained under his parents at first and then at St. Martin’s School of Art. He is known to have met and become friendly with the elderly, James McNeil Whistler during his time in France, where he had gone to complete his artistic training. This French trip also exposed him to the Impressionists and his work became noticeably more Impressionistic on his return. He exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy and the Royal Society of British Artists.

This atmospheric painting depicts the coastal landscape near Cromer, a reknowned Victorian seaside resort and fishing town in Norfolk. ‘Poppyland’ was particularly popular in the Victorian romantic view of Clement Scott, a travel writer and theatre critic. He coined the term for the stretch of coastline that took in most of the north-eastern arc of coast from Sheringham to Mundesley. This previously peaceful and very rural area became popular, as a result of Scott’s musings and the arrival of the railway. It became a ‘must see’ place for every well to do Victorian traveller, in particular the village of Overstrand, which soon boasted a Methodist church and the Hall designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

A Memorial trough in Cromer celebrates the creation of ‘Poppyland’ and its creator. The railway line which operated here (and still operates today as part of a heritage line) became known as the ‘Poppy Line’.