Our English Coasts

British painter William Holman Hunt painted this Our English Coasts in 1852, creating one of the most celebrated works of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Also known as Strayed Sheep, the painting shows a flock of sheep on the edge of cliffs near Hastings, painted with extraordinary attention to every flower, bramble, and blade of grass. Hunt worked largely outdoors at the "Lover's Seat" overlooking Covehurst Bay.

The composition is deliberately unconventional. The cliffs push up to the top of the frame, leaving little room for sky. The sheep mass on the cliff's edge on the right, creating asymmetry. The painting began as a commissioned replica of sheep from Hunt's earlier work The Hireling Shepherd, but he persuaded the buyer that an original composition would be more desirable.

Critics have interpreted the painting symbolically. The location near Hastings, site of the Norman invasion of 1066, may reference contemporary fears of French invasion under Napoleon III. The absent shepherds suggest pastors who have abandoned their flock to disaster. John Ruskin praised Hunt's authentic rendering of sunlight as a breakthrough in painting history. The work is held by Tate Britain, representing the Pre-Raphaelite commitment to naturalistic detail.