Stanhope Forbes was a student at the Royal Academy in London. Like many other artists of his generation, he also studied in Paris and spent several summers painting on the Brittany coast.

He was a supporter of en plein air painting - painting outside, directly in front of the subject matter. This approach pioneered by the Impressionists, encouraged artists to paint contemporary life. This included painting ordinary people, actual places and climactic changes.

In Chadding on Mount's Bay, the children in the painting are chadding (fishing) for herrings. It is an idyllic scene, the water is calm and the sun sparkles on their reflections in the water.

Stanhope Forbes uses lots of bright pure colours, mixed with white, to give an impression of light and atmosphere. The abundant use of white, both as a colour (the boat), and mixed with other colours (the blouse of the girl on the left), enhances the feeling of a hot summer's day, since white reflects light. Rather than using browns and blacks for the shadows, Forbes' shadows are full of hazy light, whilst the shadows on the boat and the girls' blouses contain blue, reflected from the sky. This was certainly a technique, previously adopted by the Impressionists. There is an overall harmony to the colours in this painting, where the cool, tranquil, blue stretch of water is contrasted with the warm tints of the childrens' tanned skins, and the sweater of the blond-haired boy.

Stanhope Forbes had moved to the Cornish Village of Newlyn in 1894, where he helped to establish an influential painting school. He has been recognised as the foremost painter of the Newlyn School, a group of artists who had an important influence on British art in the late 19th century. Once settled there, Stanhope Forbes was to stay for the rest of his life.

The phenomena of artists' colonies was an important factor in the development of British art, as they provided a stimulating environment for young artists working outside the remit of the Royal Academy.

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