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. From 1884 they were followed by Stanhope Forbes, Frank Bramley, Fred Hall and the other founding members of the school. Nearly Done is an exquisite little painting picturing Harris’s model, possibly Betsy Lanyon (A sniff of snuff, Penlee Gallery and Museum), in a moment’s concentration. The model is lit by the sunlight flooding the room from the single window by which she sits to light her work. The walls are bare plasterwork and show knocks and age. There is neither ornament nor luxury, just a simply rendered farmhouse chair. The whole connotes a poor life but equally one of honest work and contentment in it; all characteristics celebrated in works of the period by Harris, Langley, Forbes and Bramley as they strove to find in Newlyn an English equivalent of the new French realism. The painting has a particularly pleasing palette of blues and violets which complement the golds, whites and yellows of the garment. It was likely painted in the mid to late 1880s. It is presented in its original gilt frame.