Every 12 hours St Ives harbour is completely transformed from a maritime picture of bobbing fishing trawlers and leisure craft to a substantial beach, with St Ives famous golden sands stretching well beyond Smeatons Pier. The majority of works by John Anthony Park see the harbour at high tide but in Beached, St Ives Harbour, Park has captured the harbour with the tide either rising or ebbing, some boats still afloat drying sails, but the foremost fishing boat beached on Harbour Sand. This presented the opportunity for the artist to create a more complete study of the boat than was his norm, an opportunity grasped and deftly executed. Along with the harbour boats we have all the elements in this painting that make it a quintessential Park; from his consummate handling of light and mastery of colour, to the medieval St Ia church, The Wharf and Victorian terraces high above. In sum a wonderful composition.