Figures on a Beach, Northern France. Artist: Thomas Shotter Boys (British, Pentonville 1803-1874 London). Dimensions: sheet: 5 1/2 x 8 15/16 in. (13.9 x 22.7 cm). Date: 1830.Dark rain clouds move swiftly over a beach as figures in local costume approach a sailing vessel. Trained as an engraver, Boys began to use watercolor after meeting Richard Parkes Bonington in Paris in 1823. This coastal subject displays Boys's distinct individual qualities together with a continuing debt to Bonington, two years after the latter's death. Boys was based in England when he painted this work in 1830, but soon would return to Paris and exhibit many watercolors that encouraged new interest in the medium. Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.