Martin (John Henry)

c.1875. the scene depicts a group of about a dozen women wearing bonnets, aprons and heavy shoes, most standing aloft around one of two enormous containers, but one young woman in the foreground and a young man in the background passing up small baskets of fish, most likely pilchards. These would be packed with intermediate layers of salt by the others in the lengthy process known as ‘bulking’, before eventually being repacked in barrels ready for export, usually to Italy. A proprietorial-looking older gentleman in a top hat stands with his back to the viewer at the far end of the dimly-lit cavernous interior of rough stone walls and heavily beamed roof. An assortment of stone weights, a large wooden salt spoon, a long-handled slotted scoop, and a set of wooden steps all lie around and about upon the sloping cobbled floor with its intersecting by drainage channels. Thomas and William Bolitho, cited as the owners of the cellar depicted, were major landowners in the area, with significant local business interests including tin mining, banking as well as in the fishing industry. James B. Coulson (c.1817-1889), presumably the buyer of the watercolour from the artist, was listed in the census of 1861 as a local timber and coal merchant. John Henry Martin (1835-1908), known as Henry Martin, was born in Camberwell, served in the merchant navy as a young man, sailing between England and India, before settling in Newlyn in 1870. In the census of 1871, he was the only artist listed as living in the town, thereby pre-dating the artistic colony that became known as the Newlyn School. That began with the arrival of Walter Langley in 1882, followed by Stanhope Forbes and many others. Despite already being absorbed in depicting interior and exterior views of the daily life of this hardy and industrious community, Martin appears not to have been drawn into any sort of fellowship with these later arrivals who were also very much attracted to the same subject matter. By 1883, Martin had relocated to the Plymouth area, where he continued to paint coastal and maritime industrial life, eventually settling in Saltash where he saw out his days.. 445 by 335mm (17½ by 13¼ inches).