Title: Ships in Table Bay
Medium: Watercolour
Unframed: 19.5cm x 29cm
Framed: 53cm x 62cm
Thomas Bowler never tired of painting Table Mountain. His beautiful paintings from different vantage points are well known throughout the world. For people visiting Cape Town, Table Mountain was the main attraction. Many visitors to the city wanted to take a painting of it home with them. This iconic mountain’s attraction never diminished. In many journals and diaries of travellers visiting Cape Town Table Mountain has been described in glowing terms. Most visitors also made the trip to the summit to enjoy the view (Pama 1977:16 & 17).
Often in tales told of Table Mountain the Malay legend of the tablecloth comes up. The story told is that this peculiar cloud reminiscent of smoke is caused by a pipe-smoking contest between a Dutchman van Hunks and the devil (Pama 1977:79). Barrow (Pama 1977:79) explained this peculiar cloud formation as follows: “…the south-east wind is usually accompanied, and announced, by the peculiar cloud called the table-cloth, which lies along the top of Table Mountain like a wreath of snow, while the rest of the sky is perfectly clear. Portions of the skirts of this cloud are seen rushing down the cliffs like characters for a certain distance till they are dissipated by the hotter air below, but the great mass remains as stationary as if it were a fixed and solid body…”
