This sensitive and wonderful portrait is one of Harris’s favourite models, Betsy Lanyon, also featured in Nearly Done and in A Pinch of Snuff (Penlee Gallery and Museum collection). It is an example of the early Newlyn School’s preference for interior subjects lit by a single light source. But also a work in which you feel, despite the simplicity of the subject, Harris’s affection and warmth for the women of Newlyn whom he choose to paint.

Edwin Harris arrived in Newlyn close behind Walter Langley in 1883 after an earlier reconnaissance trip in 1881. Harris and Langley were therefore the pioneers of what was to become the Newlyn colony and school of artists.

Harris has masterfully captured Betsy’s flesh tones and whilst this is clearly a Newlyn work, the simply lit face with the work’s single light source drawing the subject out of the darkness, recalls the works of past masters of portraiture. Betsy Lanyon resting was likely painted in the mid to late 1880s and is presented in a fitting period ebonised and gilt frame.