Anon. Blind Man of Pont St Louis, Mentone, France

French Riviera: 1860s Watercolours

This watercolour is one of an interesting collection of 19th-century landscape watercolours by an artist named Curtis, who was likely a member of the Curtis family of Caynham Court, Ludlow, Shropshire. The paintings principally depict the area around Cannes on the French Riviera, as well as sights in the French Pyrenees and Northern Spain, and at Liguria and Sorrento in Italy. The artist captures picturesque farmhouses, hilltop chapels and dramatic gorges, all bathed in the southern light of the Mediterranean. Locations include Menton and Grasse, Saint-Honorat and Cannes—which had become popular resort destinations for wealthy British tourists in the mid-19th century following the arrival of the railway. Queen Victoria, Tsar Alexander II and King Edward VII, when he was Prince of Wales, were just a few of the region's devotees.<p></p>Our artist is possibly Caroline Louisa Curtis (1837–1903), one of nine children of Edward Thornewill (1801–1866) of Dovecliff Hall in Staffordshire. Two of Edward's daughters were friends of King Edward VII. Caroline married William Cotton Curtis in 1859, of the Curtis family of Caynham Court, Ludlow, Shropshire. There is a painting of Sandridge church, St Albans in the collection; the Curtis' daughter Hilda married Rev. Hugh Richard Anson who was the vicar at Sandridge.