James Lynch is a celebrated English landscape and skyscape painter renowned for his luminous views of the British countryside, particularly across Wiltshire, Dorset and Somerset where the artist lives. He is widely distinguished for his mastery of the ancient Renaissance technique of egg tempera, hand-making his own paints from raw pigments and fresh egg yolks to build up dozens of translucent layers on gesso-coated panels. 

In the present work, Lynch turns his attention to a weathered boat on Dungeness beach, Kent. The humble vessel is given a monumental status framed against a near-heavenly light from the clouds behind. Rather than an object to be mourned, it is an animated boat and links with Lynch's occupation of the ongoing history of the land.