Coast Scene with Figures Mending Nets by Thomas Sword Good (1789-1872) captures what appears to a be a family on a coastline near a rocky outcropping, with children sitting around an older man mending a net, and an older child stands next to him with her hand on his shoulder and looking out toward the right side of the painting. The faces of the closest three figures are captured in specific detail, with the older girl's happy expression and rosy cheeks visible, and the older man's downcast expression and shadows making up his face creaselines. Good uses thick, controlled strokes of dark blue and black to capture the shading in the folds of their clothing, showing the older girl holding up her apron as though she has collected something and is carrying it. These controlled paint strokes transfer into the net, showing how it is folded and draped about over the shore, reflective of Good's adeptness at capturing genre scenes and giving them a life-like quality. The darker colours of the cave outcropping behind the main figures also aids Good's technique by making the red undertones of the skin and rich colour of the figure's clothes to stand out against the background. 

Good was a well known portrait and genre painter of his time, focusing much of his work on the fishing communities of Berwickshire, as is the likely subject of this work. This piece is one of his more notable works, likely due to the realistic way he captures the figures against the details of the rock outcropping and the depth of the coastline on the right side. Good's ability to capture lifelike scenes of fishing communities' daily life brought him attention and elevated him in status at the time. 

Thomas Sword Good HRSA, 1789-1872

Born in Berwick-upon-Tweed, Good served an apprenticeship with a painter-decorator in the town before moving to London in 1810 and setting up in business on his own. He returned to Berwick two years later, after the death of his father. Money from his father's estate allowed him to abandon his trade and concentrate on a career as a portrait and genre painter. Good's subjects were drawn mainly from the Berwickshire fishing community, ranging from the life and work of the coastal fisherfolk and the salmon netters on the Tweed estuary to the exploits of smugglers. In many instances members of his immediate family served as models.
Good was a regular exhibitor, showing work in London, Edinburgh and a number of regional centres in Britain until 1834, when he gave up painting as a profession after marrying a local heiress.