Darkness Falls from the Wings of Night
Robert Jobling (1841–1923)
Laing Art Gallery
Date 1886
Medium oil on canvas
Measurements H 128.1 x W 92.2 cm
Accession number TWCMS : B6680
Acquisition method gift from Mrs R. Robson, 1931
The setting sun casts reflections on the wet sand as the people of the North-East fishing community of Cullercoats trudge home. The tow main figures are fishwives, one carrying a fish basket, and the other a load of seaweed. At the top of the slipway we see the Lifeboat Lookout House with it’s tall tower.
Robert Jobling painted this picture during the time he was a member of the Cullercoats Colony of artists. The title of his painting is a quotation from the poem The Day is Done by the American writer Henry Longfellow, published 1844. These are the first two verses:
The day is done, and the darkness
Falls from the wings of Night,
As a feather is wafted downward
From an eagle in his flight.
I see the lights of the village
Gleam through the rain and the mist,
And a feeling of sadness comes o’er me
That my soul cannot resist.