'St. Leonard's-on-Sea Looking East', Oil on Canvas by Thomas Ross, England, 1878

A wonderfully atmospheric and exquisitely painted oil on canvas late afternoon waterfront view of the English seaside resort town of St. Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, East Sussex in 1878 by politician, author, and artist Thomas Ross (1810 - 1881) entitled "St. Leonard's-on-Sea Looking East". Depicting James Burton's villas along the marina looking from Bulverhythe at low tide; the foreground with a pair of seagulls hovering above boulders, ruined pier pilings, and beach strollers; to the left a locomotive steams past what appears to be a house fire billowing black smoke and to the right a pleasure boat near shore with steam and sailboats in the distance; initialed and dated lower right. Presented in a fine giltwood frame with description plaque at center bottom. Canvas measures 21.13" x 14". Provenance:  Private New York collection, previously with The Parker Gallery, London.

Laid out as a purpose-built resort in 1826 by famous London developer James Burton, St Leonards-on-Sea quickly became a fashionable place to stay, hosting Princess Sophia of Gloucester in 1831, the future Queen Victoria and her mother, the Duchess of Kent, the winter of 1834-5, and Queen Adelaide in 1837.

Biography: Thomas Ross (1810 - 1881) - Five term mayor of Hastings, artist, author and illustrator of 13 guide books to Hastings & St Leonards published between 1835 and 1863, the early editions printed by him at his premises of 6 Castle Street, in addition to publishing a later volume of engravings entitled “17 Views of Hastings and its Environs” based on his own drawings, and an important volume of 10 lithographs entitled “Ross’s Views of Hastings and St. Leonards” circa 1845. He married the daughter of a London builder in 1843 and had one son, Thomas, with whom he was recorded as living with at Tudor House, St. Helen's Road by 1881.