Ramsgate Sands

Ramsgate Sands, also known as Life at the Seaside, is an oil-on-canvas painting by William Powell Frith, made in 1852 to 1854, which depicts a beach scene in Ramsgate. The painting was Frith's first great commercial success: it was exhibited at the Royal Academy summer exhibition in 1854, and bought by Queen Victoria. Frith made a series of similar pictures, showing groups of people in contemporary scenes, including The Derby Day of 1858, and The Railway Station of 1862 and Private View at the Royal Academy of 1883.

After the South Eastern Railway reached Ramsgate Town railway station in 1846, the town of Ramsgate rapidly became a popular destination for day trips from London.

Frith was already a successful artist. He became a member of the Royal Academy in 1853, and the painting was based on studies made by Frith during a holiday in Ramsgate in September 1851, where he was inspired by the variety of everyday life. Dunedin Public Art Gallery holds an oil sketch from 1851-2.

Frith takes advantage of the location to paint people of different social classes in contemporary modern dress. The seaside was a place where the different classes, ages, and sexes could mix without the usual barriers. Frith populates the painting with a variety of - a grandmother with a parasol, a gentleman seated reading a newspaper, an over-dressed "swell", a variety of entertainers and vendors. Frith also included a self-portrait: he is looking over the shoulder of the man on the far right, with two ladies and a girl in white in front. The small girl paddling in the sea near the centre of the painting, staring directly out of the picture, is thought to be his daughter. All are viewed from the sea, looking towards the beach, separating the viewer from the scene. Many of the buildings in the background - the clock tower, the granite obelisk erected in 1822, building with battlements on Harbour Parade, and the gable end of the building at the junction of Albion Place and Madeira Walk above the cliffs - remain recognisable today.

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