From the Blog
News, stories and musings from the eclectic world of S&W.
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Posted on 17 October 2023
The subject may be southern European but this small gem of a painting by Scottish artist Middleton Alexander Jameson (1851–1919) bears the influence of his time spent in the northern French artist colonies at Grez-sur-Loing and Etaples, and later St Ives in Cornwall
Posted on 15 October 2023
When something tugs on the personal heart strings it's very hard not to get carried away with imagining narratives of the past
Posted on 10 October 2023
A gorgeous trio of new (200-year-old) Chinese paintings on pith this week—the watercolour pooling atop the spongy tissue of the Tetrapanex papyrifera plant to assert their existence with age-defying vibrancy
Posted on 08 October 2023
The Valley of the Rocks at Watcombe near Torquay—once part of the Watcombe Park estate belonging to Isambard Kingdom Brunel—in the mid-19th-century played host to two open-air music fetes, attended by thousands
Posted on 26 September 2023
New this week, a collection of large watercolours by Lt Col J.A. Armstrong
Posted on 24 September 2023
Autumn is officially here, and this week we are musing on the cyclical passing of time and the iconography of the seasons, so engrained in the British psyche, with our new collection of nature illustrations
Posted on 19 September 2023
Not so far from us today, with this Somerset subject—a poetic rendition of the quarry at Ham Hill by Victorian painter Alfred Tidey (1808–1892)
Posted on 17 September 2023
Learning about the English eccentric, 'wayward philosopher' George John Cayley (1826–1878) this week, through his vibrant snapshot sketches at Algiers, 1874–5
Posted on 12 September 2023
Newly listed, this charming and quirky watercolour, showing a charitable home 'supported by voluntary contributions', captures an essence of Victorian England
Posted on 05 September 2023
This week we have added to our superb collection of drawings by master Henry William Burgess
Posted on 03 September 2023
Encyclopaedic subjects from early 19th-century Moravian, Leopold Billek
Posted on 31 August 2023
As 'back to school' approaches, we are lifting our spirits today with new works from our fantastic collection of mid-century modern textile designs
Posted on 27 August 2023
I love this vivid little evocation of Whitby in 1870, not the archetypal shoreline or gothic abbey but the smoking, red-roofed life of the place
Posted on 22 August 2023
Newly listed Indian mica paintings this week include this joyous depiction of an elephant and howdah
Posted on 20 August 2023
Continuing our Indian theme this week, we have a new collection of impressive large portrait drawings by Mumbai artist Prakash Sonawane
Posted on 17 August 2023
Fascinating to consider that Rembrandt had a collection of more than two dozen Mughal paintings, from which he made pen and ink studies
Posted on 15 August 2023
Had to post this late 19th-century view of our very own Saxon church here in Bradford on Avon
Posted on 13 August 2023
Our Red Poppy still life from our new Josef Herman OBE RA (1911–2000) collection embodies the artist's experimentation with pastel
Posted on 10 August 2023
From what at first appears an unassuming sketch unfolds a story of one of the 18th century's most important feminists and a home at the centre of an alternative, bohemian social milieu of Regency England
Posted on 08 August 2023
A wonderfully atmospheric watercolour by Henry Robertson ARE (1848–1930) showing fishing boats on the Stade beach at Hastings
Posted on 06 August 2023
William 'Quaker' Pegg (1775–1851) is regarded by many as being the finest flower painter to have ever worked in ceramics
Posted on 03 August 2023
Our Conway collection records a number of English country houses in the late 19th century—often buildings that have since been demolished or much changed
Posted on 01 August 2023
New this week, a vivid collection of miniature mid-19th-century sketches in watercolour and bodycolour on blue paper after Masters such as Turner, Constable, Gainsborough and Rembrandt
Posted on 30 July 2023
A selection from our new collection of lithographs by Polish-British artist Josef Herman OBE RA (1911–2000)
Posted on 25 July 2023
This gorgeous watercolour is a rare example of the work of Erskine Edward Nicol (1868–1926), who had connections with 'The Glasgow Boys' and whose paintings recall the North African subjects of Scottish painter Arthur Melville (1855–1904)
Posted on 23 July 2023
A wonderfully civilised picnic 'between Croyde & Baggy Point', North Devon, 1866
Posted on 20 July 2023
Lovely watercolours from our Apollonia Griffith collection
Posted on 18 July 2023
For anyone heading south west for the summer, here is a lovely watercolour at Sennen, just a stone's throw from Land's End
Posted on 16 July 2023
We're in awe of the craftsmanship (or craftswomanship) in our newly listed pair of 18th-century silkwork embroideries
Posted on 13 July 2023
S&W Picture of the Month for July is this arresting, large portrait rendered with beautiful sensitivity by Octavius Oakley RWS (1800–1867)
Posted on 11 July 2023
John Hall Thorpe's joyful decorative style is instantly recognisable: think Mary Delany, pared back and infused with flattened forms of modernity for the interwar era
Posted on 09 July 2023
The naturalism with which George Cattermole RWS (1800–1868) rendered his historical subjects is quite breathtaking—our newly listed 'Grace at the Refectory' by Cattermole this week has allowed us to get up close and personal with his technique, combining watercolour and bodycolour to give the scene real depth
Posted on 04 July 2023
Our new pair of handpainted Berlin Woolwork designs tell an interesting story about the democratisation of embroidery
Posted on 02 July 2023
We have been vicariously off on our summer hols this week with our new collection of Edwardian travel sketches by Alice Horton
Posted on 27 June 2023
A wonderful rustic subject by the Scottish artist Hector Chalmers (1849–1943)
Posted on 25 June 2023
New this week, a collection of playful English illustrations spanning the period 1906 to 1936
Posted on 20 June 2023
Gorgeous new florals from the circle of James Holland OWS (1799–1870)
Posted on 13 June 2023
This lovely 1930s oil painting shows a leafy view in 'Church Street' in Enfield, north London
Posted on 11 June 2023
This fine pair of drawings after the 18th-century Italian painter and engraver Giovanni Battista Cipriani RA (1727–1785) depict Hebe, the ancient Greek goddess of youth, and a Bacchante, a priestess or female followers of the god Bacchus
Posted on 01 June 2023
This light-filled back street view in Port Isaac, on Cornwall's north coast, shows the celebrated St Ives painter John Anthony Park RBA ROI (1880–1962) working in a post-impressionistic style
Posted on 30 May 2023
Feeling uplifted today by our new collection of brilliantly vibrant 1950s gouaches from the world travels of Ivy T. Attwell
Posted on 28 May 2023
It's always interesting to see a really different view of a place—here looking towards the Isle of Wight from Southsea, Portsmouth
Posted on 23 May 2023
There is mystery and mystique around the relocation of British artist Frank Hind to Granada, Spain in 1905 and his change of name to Francis Wallis-Markland—a curious story that adds to the other-worldly quality of his Symbolist inspired pastel renderings of Granada's gardens
