The Head of the River
Topic: Execution date

The presence of the Oxford Union Boating Club boathouse in the background dates the painting to later than 1881, and not later than 1925.

William O'Chee, Entry reviewed by Art UK

2 attachments

Completed, Outcome

This discussion is now closed. ‘The Head of the River' has now been dated to c.1891–1892.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the discussion. To anyone viewing this discussion for the first time, please see below for all the comments that led to this conclusion.

13 comments

Martin Hopkinson,

The barge can be seen sideon in 'The Brasenose barge' , Brazen Notes, 8 , 2008. This is the second of the three barges which the college has had. The BNCBC minutes book shoud provide the dates between which it was in use.
The artrist's second name is Jermyn not Jemyn

Martin Hopkinson,

it seems that he is recorded most often as Jamyn

Nicholas Barfield,

The well dressed ladies on the towpath in background are wearing walking dresses with relatively small bustles, which helps with dating. Bustles reached their apogee in the mid-1880s and started to diminish in size thereafter, as women began to appreciate the freedom of less padding and fashions adopted a more naturally tailored look. So the relatively modest bustles on the dresses of the ladies in the painting would point to late 1880s-1890s rather than an earlier date.
The chap in the double-breasted blazer, wing collar and matching pink tie and cap would also be fashionably dressed by the standards of the early-to-mid 1890s.

Kieran Owens,

On page 246 of 'The Year's Art' of 1893, reference is made to Brasenose and "College Barge" by "H. J. Brooks". Although this might be in regards to a print, anyone with access to this volume might be kind enough to dig out the exact entry.

Kieran, thank you for your posts. I have The Year's Art 1893. The full details are as follows:

Title: Oxford. Brasenose College Barge. Painted by H. J. Brooks. A photogravure by Hanfstangl, size 27.5 x 18.0 inches. Publisher Dickinson & Foster. The states are listed as Rem. A.P. ed 25, price 8gns; A.P. ed 100, price 6gns; B. L. ed 50, price 4 gns; L.P. ed 25, price 3gns; and Prints, not editioned, price 2 gns.

Kieran Owens,

The photogravure was most likely executed by the Franz Hanfstaengl (sic) Fine Art Publishing company, which had an office in London from as early 1885 (at 5, Rathbone Place) and at least until 1915 (at 16, Pall Mall East). Named after the famous German photographer (1804 -1877), the company was run by his son Edgar Hanfstaengl (1842 - 1910), who, in 1868, took over the photographic workshop and expanded the business into the Franz Hanfstaengl Art Publishing House. The company was subsequently managed by his grandson Edgar (1883 – 1958):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Hanfstaengl

https://bit.ly/3cMZKjj

https://bit.ly/31bwldr

https://bit.ly/2NvPpQ8

I cannot find find any image of this print via a Google search.

Does not the link in Kieran's comment from 19/03/2021 point to 1891 or 1892 as the likely dates for the Brooks' painting? The link includes this sentence
'One of the suite of four lithographs of Henley Regatta produced by Dickinson and Foster in 1893 after oils by Henry Jermyn Brooks. The four original oil paintings of Regatta scenes from 1891 and 1892 were exhibited at The Church Institute in Henley-on-Thames during the 1893 Regatta.'
I note also from this site https://bit.ly/3Lpco7I some interesting history on Dickinson & Foster publishing, including an ending of the association before 1891.

Marcie Doran,

An article in the ‘Henley Advertiser’ of Saturday, June 3, 1893, describes in detail each of the four paintings of the Henley Regatta that were in an exhibition put on by Dickinson & Foster.

The article takes up most of the first two columns of the page. I will try to attach three screen images but if this fails, perhaps someone else can attach the article.

Marcie Doran,

The painting’s title, “The Head of the River”, would be a reference to the four-day Oxford regatta.

As shown in a table on the entry for “Eights Week” on Wikipedia, the black blade of the paddles means that the crew were from Brasenose. According to the table, that college was Head of the River in the 1888–91 period. The table does not show all the years that the college was Head of the River.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eights_Week

According to Wikipedia:
“Eights Week, also known as Summer Eights, is a four-day regatta of bumps races which constitutes the University of Oxford's main intercollegiate rowing event of the year. The regatta takes place in May of each year, from the Wednesday to the Saturday of the fifth week of Trinity Term. Men's and women's coxed eights compete in separate divisions for their colleges.


The ultimate aim of a crew is to become "Head of the River" (top of the first division) and stay there.“

The evidence gathered and presented here is in my opinion sufficient for us to indicate with a high degree of comfort that the painting 'The Head of the River' dates to circa 1891 or 1892. I recommend that we close this discussion on that basis and, subject to the agreement of the Collection, Art UK should update the record accordingly. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this discussion.

The Bursar at Brasenose College has kindly replied and accepted Grant's Group leader recommendation in terms of dating this painting.