The scene shows a young woman who has lost her husband at sea being comforted by her mother-in-law. The setting is a simple cottage interior, with a view of the sea and a table set like an altar to hint at the consolations of religion. The location for the scene is known to be Bramley’s own home on a tiny Newlyn lane. Penlee House Gallery collects work depicting the far west of Cornwall and by artists associated with the area. It has one work by Bramley in its holdings and this study for A Hopeless Dawn now joins it there.

Provenance

Given by the artist to Mademoiselle Caisson, Cannes, and thence by descent. Anonymous Sale; Sotheby's London, 27 November 1996, lot 16 as 'Two Women in an Interior'. With Pyms GAllery, London. Private Collection in UK by 1999.