Artistic Clues to Coastal Change

I've just been reading an interesting article from the BBC about the use of 19th Century paintings to aid the study of coastal erosion...

Many Victorian paintings such as the one above ('Bonchurch, Isle of Wight' by Thomas Leeson Rowbotham, 1863) show coastal scenery, geological features and coastal defences in lots of detail, and Dr Robert McInnes, a retired coastal engineer, has devised a system for using these paintings to assess change.

The full article from the BBC is here.