This depicts an incident from the beginning of Dickens book ‘Great Expectations’ where the hero Pip Pirrip encounters the convict on the marsh, Abel Magwich, who becomes his benefactor.
It shows when Magwich surprises Pip in the graveyard of the Church where his family is buried.
In the background can be seen the prison hulk that Magwich has escaped from. There are menacing birds and ominous clouds that add to the spooky atmosphere.
The site of the church is based on that at Cooling in kent near Dickens house at Gads Hill. I visited this churchyard in the 1970’s. This picture owes much to David Lean’s film of the book made in 1946.
