Arthur Frederics Brentwood

Arthur Frederics (1848–1929)

This picture forms part of a delightful collection of sketches in graphite pencil and wash that we have for sale by Arthur Frederics (1848–1929). Frederics was born Arthur Frederick Hipp but changed his name to Arthur Frederics. He was a talented illustrator, producing drawings for publications such as The Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic News. In 1889 he was the original illustrator for Jerome K. Jerome's 'Three Men in a Boat', his finely executed drawings integral to the book's character and comic appeal.

The sketches in the present collection primarily depict views around the Thames, at Henley, Twickenham, Shepperton and Petersham, and at Wokingham in Berkshire—locations familiar from Jerome's infamous boating holiday on the Thames which passed from Kingston upon Thames to Oxford and back. Produced in the late 1910s and early 1920s, towards the end of Frederic's life, they offer glimpses of these now London commuter belt locations at a sleepier, more rural time.

Annotations associated with the collection suggest that these sketches have passed through the family, with 'G. Frederics' in Wokingham (presumably the artist's son George) and then a niece or nephew who refers to 'Uncle Fred' and identifies him as 'brother of Mrs Tyndale Heelas'. Arthur Frederic's older sister, Amelia Mary Hipp, married Tynedale William Heelas, who was part of the Heelas family of Wokingham, who ran a drapery business and what was to become House of Heelas, the department store in the town.