A Pull to Windward is painted in Falmouth Bay in Charles Napier Hemy's favoured medium of watercolour and egg tempera which allowed the artist to complete the work in his floating studio, and thereby fulfil his desire to capture the ever-changing sea en-plein-air. At his home in Falmouth, Churchfield, Hemy kept chickens whose eggs provided the yolks for the tempera which aided the painter in capturing the substance of surf and sea swell, and highlights in the boatmen and vessel. Hemy’s paintings capture like few other artists have, the relationship between men and the sea and A Pull to Windward is a fine example as the oarsmen urge the heavy clinker built boat into the wind and approaching swells. 

Boatmen battling against the wind and oncoming waves was a popular subject for Hemy; a much later but very similiar work resides in the Sheffield Museum, A Pull to Windward (1913) and would have been a narrative of courage and indefatigable effort that his patrons would have appreciated.

The present work was exhibited at the Royal Watercolour Society in 1900 (verso note: A Pull to Windward, C Napier Hemy - No2 RWS 1900).