In the summer of 1864, Ford Madox Brown wrote a letter to his patron James Leathart of Newcastle suggesting that he purchased a series of beautiful works of Jersey by his pupil, Albert Goodwin. He predicted that the young painter would become the greatest landscape artist of his time: My pupil Mr. Goodwin has recently returned from Jersey with a very admirable set of drawings – As I promised him to send them to you for inspection and also you may remember promised you to do so, I take it upon me without further leave to have them placed in the case along with ‘Oure Ladye’ for although, as you say, you are not at present prepared for extensive purchase, yet these drawings, all who have seen them think so very beautiful that I cannot help thinking you will retain some of them. Considering how fine most of them are and the extreme youth of the artist (only 19) I think there can be no doubt of his becoming before long one of the greatest landscape painters of the age. Hughes who was his first master came over this afternoon to help us to price them, we have done to the best of our ability and the result is the enclosed list. Should you buy any or even all (for it is a very cheap list) we should feel obliged by your sending back the whole of them in a week - for as yet scarce any one has seen them and no doubt they will do him much good by being shown … (Letter held in the Library of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, dated July 18th, 1864) During his years studying with Madox Brown, Goodwin described how he had learnt the need of hard work( Quoted in Hammond Smith, Albert Goodwin, RWS 1845-1932, F. Lewis Publishers, Leigh-on-Sea, 1977). Boulay Bay is undoubtedly one of those works referred to in Madox Brown’s letter quoted above, painted with a rich primary colour scheme reminiscent of Brown’s own magical realism, seen in intense colours of his landscape masterpiece, Walton on the Naze (Birmingham City Art Gallery).