{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O93409"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O93409/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AF3437/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AF3437/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AF3437","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KA0651","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O93409/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O93409","accessionNumber":"1162-1886","objectType":"Painting","titles":[{"title":"Watching the Porpoises","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"The porpoises that the boys are apparently watching are probably harbour porpoises (<i>phocaena phocaena</i>) - sea-dwelling mammals that are grey in colour and about 1.5 metres long. When this view was painted in 1863, they were still common around the coast of Britain, but their numbers have declined in recent decades, perhaps because of environmental and industrial factors. The leisure to watch such creatures would have been a rare event in a fishing community, even for children.","physicalDescription":"The painting is of portrait proportions, showing three boys on rocks by the sea, with white cliffs and seabirds in the background.  In the centre front is a blonde boy sitting on his hands: he wears a turquoise-coloured fisherman's smock over a white shirt with a coloured neckerchief, brown trousers, a black hat and grey socks with brown lace-up boots.  Behind him, propped on his elbows, is a barefooted brown-haired boy wearing a green fisherman's smock over a white shirt with a red and green neckerchief, a broad-brimmed straw hat, and rolled-up trousers.  At the back stands a barefooted boy wearing a red, white and turquoise-coloured stocking cap over his black curly hair, with a blue jumper and rolled-up khaki trousers.  He is festooned with fishing net and line with cork floats, and carries a large net on a semicircular frame with a handle.  A home-made toy boat floats in the rock pool below the boys.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Fripp, Alfred","id":"A11876"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"watercolour","id":"x33202"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painting","id":"x30598"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour","categories":[{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"},{"text":"Children's clothes","id":"THES48979"},{"text":"Children and childhood","id":"THES48980"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"YVA","id":"THES48593"},"images":["2006AF3437","2017KA0651"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"A","id":"THES304248"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Painting","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"No","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1863","earliest":"1863-01-01","latest":"1863-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Dixon Bequest","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"82","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"frame","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"65","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"frame","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"7.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"frame","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"The probable sitters/models for this watercolour were George Weeks (1850-1925), a fisherman of Swanage, Dorset, and two of his brothers, James (b.1852) and Thomas (b.1854). This information was given by Richard Wiltshire, a descendant of George Weeks, in a letter concerning a related watercolour by Alfred Downing Fripp, \"Young England\", museum number 397-1891, \"We believe [it] portrays George Weeks (1850-1925), fisherman of Swanage, Dorset.\".\r\n","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Watercolour 'Watching the Porpoises' painted in England by Alfred Fripp in 1863","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"boys","id":"AAT247598"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["1162-1886"],"accessionNumberNum":"1162","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1886,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-17","recordCreationDate":"2004-02-20","availableToBook":true}}