About this artwork
In this experimental work Melville depicts the dazzling light and dust of a chalk pit. His treatment of the landscape is almost abstract. The location is the South Downs, near Merstham, Surrey, close to where he was then living. A tunnel was being constructed for the Quarry Line of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Company, which opened in 1899. Amidst the clouds of chalk dust is a narrow-gauge railway and trucks loaded with blocks of stone.
Updated February 2024
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artist:Arthur Melville (1855 - 1904) Scottish
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title:The Chalk Cutting
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date created:1898
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materials:Oil on canvas
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measurements:85.10 x 92.80 cm; Framed: 113.30 x 120.30 x 5.00 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Purchased with the assistance of Art Fund and the Patrons of the National Galleries of Scotland, 2013
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accession number:NG 2870
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gallery:
Arthur Melville
Arthur Melville
Melville's travels in Europe and the Middle East inspired his vibrant paintings in oil and watercolour. He developed a distinctive technique of watercolour painting, described as 'blottesque', using dabs of pigment on wet paper and blotting them with a sponge. Melville, born in Angus, studied...