A quintessential oil painting by Julius Olsson of his most famous view, looking across St Ives Bay towards Godrevy Head and Lighthouse. The beaches in the foreground are Towan and Hayle. Godrevy Lighthouse was completed in 1859 and sits upon Godrevy Island in St Ives Bay, approximately 300 metres off Godrevy Head. It marks and warns shipping of Stones reef, which stretches from Godrevy island towards St Ives.

Olsson was renowned for his beautiful impressionistic renderings of moonlit seascapes. The most famous example of the artist’s romantic naturalism is Moonlit Shore, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1911 and purchased by the Chantry bequest for the Tate. St Ives Bay, Moonlight could almost be a study for the Tate work although pictures the moonlit coastal scene from a viewpoint a little closer to Godrevy.