The Eddystone Lighthouse, during a Storm, 6 July 1825

William Daniell RA (1769 - 1837)

RA Collection: Art

This dramatic print reproduces Daniell’s painting of the Eddystone Lighthouse off Rame Head in Cornwall during the ‘Great Storm’ that battered the south coast of England in 1824. The original painting is in the collection at The Box, Plymouth https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/eddystone-lighthouse-during-a-storm-147599

The Eddystone lighthouse weathered the storm, but with significant damage. The keeper of the lighthouse, James Simmons, described the storm in a letter: ‘the sea was tremendous, and broke with such violence on the top and round the building, as to demolish, in an instant, five panes of lantern glass and sixteen cylinder glasses… we were overwhelmed, and the sea made a breach from the top of the house to the bottom’.

In this image, Daniell captured the enormous power of the towering waves that almost envelop the lighthouse. The sea and the night sky merge, creating an oppressive darkness with only a small burst of light visible above the surging waves.

The title on the print itself describes the scene as 'The Edystone Light-House during the Storm in November 1824' and this is followed by an extract from the lighthouse keeper's letter describing the storm. Daniell exhibited his oil painting of the scene at the Royal Academy in 1825 with the same extraxct quoted in the catalogue.