Study for a mural, Malachi

Details

Date: 1894-1910
Dimensions: 21.5 x 8
Object Type: watercolour
Material: watercolour on paper
Catalogue number: BrW74
Artist: Shields, Frederic James (1833 - 1911)
Credit notes: Brangwyn gift, 1950

Shields was commissioned to decorate the interior of The Chapel of the Ascension, Bayswater by its benefactress, Emilia Russell Gurney. Shields first met Gurney in 1882, and later she sent both Shields and architect Herbert Horne to the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore della Pietrasanta in Naples for inspiration. After the building’s exterior was completed by Horne in 1894, Shields began work on his series of murals and panels depicting imagery from both the Old and New Testaments, including this watercolour of Malachi (see also a design for St Jude from the same scheme, also in WMG’s collection: BrD77). Sheilds discusses the paintings in his pamphlet Chapel of the Ascension: Its Story and Scheme (twelve editions published by the Women’s Printing Society between 1897 and 1935). The work was finally completed in 1910; however, the Chapel and its decorative scheme were destroyed during the Blitz in 1944.

Details

Date: 1874
Dimensions: 27 x 20
Object Type: watercolour
Material: watercolour on paper
Catalogue number: BrW85
Artist: Shields, Frederic James (1833 - 1911)
Sitter: Booth, Matilda (1856)
Credit notes: Brangwyn gift, 1950

Watercolour portrait of the artist’s wife, Matilda Booth, known as Cissy. She was frequently used by Shields as a model; they were married in 1874, the year in which the present watercolour was painted, when Shields was 40 and Matilda 16. The watercolour was formerly in the collection of Mrs. E. Middleton, who wrote the life of Shields’.

Details

Date: c.1911-1912
Dimensions: 61 x 61
Object Type: watercolour
Catalogue number: W211
Artist: Robinson, Frederick Cayley (1862 - 1927)
Credit notes: Cecil French Bequest, 1954

A related tempera sketch, The Landing of St. Patrick in Ireland, (22.7 x 22.2 cm) is in Carlisle City Art Gallery collection No. 20 (Gordon Bottomley Bequest, reproduced Waters & Harrison, Burne Jones, 1973, p.181 fig.270). Both this and W211 are apparently studies for a decorative mural for which, following a competition in 1912, Cayley Robinson was awarded a commission by Sir Hugh Lane. The mural was intended to decorate a proposed Gallery of Modern Art in Dublin.

Details

Date: 1922
Dimensions: 24 x 40
Object Type: watercolour
Material: pencil and watercolour on paper
Catalogue number: BrW50
Artist: Rushbury, Henry George, Sir, 1889, 1968
Credit notes: Brangwyn gift, 1935

This watercolur shows a view up the river Arno in Florence, with the church of San Miniato al Monte and the Forte Belvedere visible in the distance. Rushbury’s Italian tour began in Florence, Assisi, Siena and San Gimignano, providing a plethora of subjects for on-the-spot drawings as well as ideas for subsequent work. His wife Florence travelled with him as far as San Gimignano and then returned home, while Rushbury went to Orvieto with the artist Charles Cundall and then to Rome.

Other works in public collections which date from this 1922 trip are in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (‘From the Porto Rosso, Florence’, pen and wash 16 1/8 x 10 7/8 ins.); Leeds City Art Galleries (‘Siena’ watercolour 12 1/4 x 18 5/8 ins.) and the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester (‘Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome’ pencil and wash 12 3/4 x 18 7/8 ins.)

Details

Date: 1866
Dimensions: 47.5 x 79.5
Object Type: watercolour
Material: watercolour on paper
Catalogue number: BrW65
Artist: Burne-Jones | Edward Coley | Sir | 1833 | 1898
Credit notes: Brangwyn gift, 1941

The picture is Burne-Jones’s most considered essay in the prevailing classical style of the later 1860s. The mood of restrained sadness, the chalky colours (characteristic of other paintings of 1866), the simple outlines and low relief of the figures all point to this conclusion. The design owes much to Burne-Jones’s study of the Parthenon frieze in the British Museum, and in fact a drawing at Birmingham for the figure on the right (207’04) showing the figure sitting upright, is very close to the figure of Ares in the group of seated deities (Parthenon frieze, slab IV, fig.27) which he copied about 1864 in a sketch book in the Victoria and Albert Museum. (E.3-1955). The Lament though dated 1866 was largely painted in 1865. There are numerous studies for The Lament and a later oil version was sold at Christie’s (4 July 1967 lot 57) which has a different background.

Details

Date: 1867
Dimensions: 54 x 37
Object Type: watercolour
Material: watercolour on paper
Catalogue number: BrW48
Attributed artist: Rossetti | Dante Gabriel | 1828 | 1882
Attributed artist: Dunn, Henry Treffry, 1838, 1899
Credit notes: Brangwyn gift, 1935

This is one of three watercolour replicas painted by Rossetti and assistants of his original oil painting, for which the model was Alexa Wilding, whereas here the model is Ellen Smith, a laundry maid who Rossetti ‘discovered’ in Chelsea.

This painting was largely painted under Rossetti’s supervision by H. T. Dunn, who became his studio assistant in 1867. It is probable the finishing touches were added by Rossetti himself, as the quality of the execution is superior to most of Dunn’s works. the couplet of poetry inscribed on the frame is from a French ballad, pledging happiness by day and night to the unseen partner of the loving cup.

Details

Date: 1919
Dimensions: 25 x 35
Object Type: watercolour
Material: watercolour on paper
Catalogue number: W240
Artist: Wornum, Dulce ( - 1933)
Credit notes: Gift of Antony Little, 2017

Details

Date: 1919
Dimensions: 25 x 35
Object Type: watercolour
Material: watercolour on paper
Catalogue number: W239
Artist: Wornum, Dulce ( - 1933)
Credit notes: Gift of Antony Little, 2017

Watercolour of the Morris & Co. George Street showroom. This watercolour was commissioned for use in a 1919 pamphlet advertising the move of the Morris & Co.’s showroom, two years previous from 449 Oxford Street to 17 George Street, Hanover Square. The move occured during the First World War in 1917 and was perhaps the reason that this pamphet was not published until 1919.
In this watercolour we can see how the showroom was designed to look like a living room, showcasing some of Morris & Co.’s most popular patterns, like Daisy and Fruit. We can also see a version of the Pilgrim in the Garden Tapestry hanging over the fireplace. This tapestry was first woven in 1901 based on a chalk drawing made by Brune-Jones in 1881 of a scene from the from the medieval poem Romaunt de la Rose.

Details

Date: c.1830
Object Type: watercolour
Catalogue number: BrE7
Artist: Gakutei, Yashima (c.1786 - c.1868)
Credit notes: Brangwyn gift, 1940

The Yoshiwara quarter in Edo (now Tokyo) was a famous area licensed for prostitution, popular amongst wealthy clients. The quarter formed its own social hierarchy in which courtesans were distinguished from ordinary prostitutes. This painting shows off the elaborate dress and hairstyle worn by courtesans. A richly patterned sash is worn over the kimono, tied at the front to confirm her high status. Yashima Gakutei was a Japanese artist and poet who was a pupil of both Totoya Hokkei and Hokusai. In the late 19^th century, a craze for Japanese art and design swept Europe and had a profound impact on the artistic movements of the day. The famous colour woodblock prints, which so inspired Van Gogh, Whistler and Rossetti when they first appeared in the 1850s, and were widely available in London’s shops when Frank Brangwyn acquired this work.

Object Type: watercolour

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