The Mussel Gatherers

Sunderland Point is a historic part of the Lancashire Cost to the west of Lancaster. The painting depicts a cobbled and sandy shore, strewn with seaweed, on which women are collecting mussels from the waters of the receeding tide (a traditional local occupation). Centrally placed on the promontory is a historically important group of buildings, including former warehouses that stored the first consignments of imported cotton from the West Indies. The work is though to be one of the finest known by the artist.