G F WATTS (1817- 1904) and CHARLES H THOMPSON (1870 - 1946)

Charles H Thompson's TWIXT LOVE AND DUTY at the Lander Gallery has an unexpected link with the WATTS MEMORIAL GALLERY at Compton, Surrey.
When G F Watts died (1904), his widow was to employ a gentleman or an artist- preferably both- to  take over as Curator of the venture. Charles H Thompson and his wife were awarded the post in 1905.
At the time Thompson and his wife Heather (Sutcliffe) were living and painting in the artist community at Lamorna, Cornwall, around the coast from Newlyn.

Thompson himself had recently embarked on this major painting TWIXT LOVE AND DUTY using local models and a garden in the Lamorna Valley.

The move to Compton meant taking the unfinished canvas to complete up there.This would explain the fact that it is dated 1905 and 1906.
                                                                                     

G F WATTS

TWIXT LOVE AND DUTY by Charles H Thompson

I always think the seated figure bears a striking resemblance to GF Watts (photo from internet)
In fact the man in the painting is an identified Lamorna man and the similarity to Watts is largely coincidental.
On the other hand, if you visit the WATTS you find the whole place dominated by the spirit of Watts even now. The Thompsons, living on the premises, must have have been acutely aware of the pervasive presence of the artist in photographs among other things; so as Thompson continued on his painting it would be understandable if the old man in the painting grew to resemble Watts.

  TWIXT LOVE AND DUTY was shown at the Royal Academy in 1907. it measures 50" x 40" and has a spectacular gold Florentine carved frame. It is for sale at the Lander Gallery

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NANCY BAILEY!

Following the note on her recent visit to the Lander, Nancy Bailey celebrated her 98th birthday on July 29th.

BEN IS OFF TO NATIONAL YOUTH THEATRE

Ben Carlin, one of our Baristas, is off to the National Youth Theatre's Summer School at the weekend. This is the top theatrical company for young people and the competition to get in is very fierce indeed, so this represents a tremendous achievement.
You may have seen Ben take leading roles in various productions (not least in Kafka's METAMORPHOSIS at the Minack) as well as starring here at the Lander Gallery Cafe.
Ben is going to have a great summer experience that will doubtless open many new doors before he returns to us late in August.
All is not lost to us, however, as Ben and Rachel will be giving us another SINGING BARISTAS teatime concert in the second week in September.

WOULD YOU RATHER BE HERE?

JANET TRELOAR: BLUE STUDIO

You can feel today's heat in this welcoming BLUE STUDIO by Janet Treloar.

Janet Treloar's paintings have earned her the prestigious post of VICE PRESIDENT of the ROYAL SOCIETY OF PAINTERS IN WATERCOLOURS.

COFFEE OFFER!

Welcome to the Lander Gallery's BLOG!
If you like the blog, why not send an Email under the title BLOG COFFEE to
info@landergallery.co.uk
and the first twenty we receive will be given a voucher for a free cup of coffee at the Gallery Cafe here in Lemon Street Market.

RACHEL'S GRADE EIGHT!

Regular visitors will know that our Singing Barista RACHEL SMITH gave a splendid  Teatime Recital  here recently. She was preparing for her Grade Eight singing examination and her teacher, CHERYL ROSEVEAR decided it would be useful to perform the exam pieces in public first. The recital here was  a great success (of course).
Rachel has just learned that she passed her Grade Eight with MERIT. This is a fine achievement- the standard is very high at Grade Eight!

We have another SINGING BARISTAS concert planned for early September, when Rachel will be joined by our own Ben Carlin.

STANHOPE FORBES AT THE LANDER GALLERY

This is Stanhope Forbes's study for his huge painting of THE FIRE OF LONDON, painted for the Royal Exchange, London.
You may recognise it from your copy of THE STORY OF THE BRITISH NATION (Hutchinson 1920)
You can see the houses of London Town consumed by flames as the people rescue their treasures .

But look again- those people are on the quay at Newlyn- and surely some of those faces are familiar from Newlyn scenes! Yes it was painted at Newlyn.

Interesting to compare this with the finished version. The final composition differs in various details.
The one at the Royal Exchange measures 5.2 by 4.3 METRES! Ours is a more manageable 75cm x 45cm.

I believe you can still see the finished work at the Royal Exchange today but it does mean going to the heart of the City of London.
Ours has the advantage that you could buy it today and have it it to hang on your own wall at home- it is for sale here now.

What did the NEW YORK TIMES say?
18th February 1899.
'The decoration of the walls of the Royal Exchange, London, is fast making progress, and the huge mural painting by Mr Stanhope Forbes, A.R.A., of "The Great Fire of London." has been put in its place. Mr. Forbes's picture was painted at Newlyn, but it was brought to London, and was shown recently at a studio. Mr. Forbes had found his subject on the banks of the Thames, which was, according to Evelyn's account of the fire, "covered with goods floating, all the barges and boats laden with what some had time and courage to save." The picture shows an ancient river-wall, with the burning city in the background and middle distance, and in the foreground a motley crowd of houseless Londoners carrying their children and their household treasures down to the boats. Smoke and sparks sweep across the twilight sky, and the glare of the burning houses reddens the river from bank to bank. The new picture for the decoration of the Royal Exchange has been presented by the Sun Insurance Company, an institution which, fortunately for its proprietors, did not come into existence until more than half a century after the great fire.."

THIS IS NOW!

Here is Caroline Atkinson's painting DUNE SHADOWS. The beach looks so inviting that you could just walk straight into the picture. Carolione always gets the light just right and this particular piece could be painted today, as the sun beams down on the Cornish coast and summer is here.

GWR CAMPING COACHES

There is a flurry on Twitter about our Camping Coaches poster. Just to confirm, it IS an original dating back to 1957. Most people over a certain age will remember these rather eccentric holiday homes- actually you don't have to be very old; I believe there is still one at St Germans station (Cornwall) today!
We have had numerous keen Great Western Railway enthusiasts here to see our posters and one visitor told me that GWR provided the Camping Coaches that were taken up to Wales, so he thought that the glorious scenery beyond the GWR coach is probably the Welsh Mountains.

The poster came from the Great Western Publicity Department at Paddington.

GREAT WESTERN ADVERT

The sun shines on Truro - this afternoon at least! If you are thinking of paying a visit to  the Lander Gallery, here is a a reason for coming by train. This is not a print- it is an original design from the desk of the publicity Department at Paddington Station.

It was painted in 1933 as part of a book of suggestions for Great Western Railways.

We have the whole set here in the gallery, each page offering a different advertising design.
Produced by GOODALL ADVERTISING Ltd, 9 Southampton Street, High Holborn, WC1, the book is as immaculate as the day it was brought to Paddington.
The other advert designs are all monochrome but this one is in glorious colour.
If you can't make it to the Gallery or to Cornwall, we can always have this GWR treasure delivered to you! (It is priced at £975. 0p by the way)

A JEST

In case you are wondering- the painting at the top is by Thomas Cooper Gotch. A wonderful watercolour portrait of his daughter Phyllis. She stands poised on the edge of a gothic niche, about to step forward and sharing with us a sense of happiness and fun. Gotch depicted his daughter in the same niche for his great painting ALLELUIA, though ion that occasion the girl was younger and more angelic. Now she has grown older- and somewhere therein lies THE JEST. It is currently for sale at the Lander Gallery

NANCY BAILEY IN THE GALLERY!

We had a real treat this week- Nancy Bailey came into the gallery. Here is a photo of her, seated below two of her paintings. She has the happy smile of a lady in her ninety-eighth year! We showed her two of her own paintings of Truro. The painting above her on the left dates from 1972. She recognised it immediately as a view of the old Lemon Quay in Truro, as it was before the area on the right became TESCO and the area on the left was developed into flats and offices. The painting to the right shows a characteristic view of the Cathedral in Truro- most of our customers recognise that but they usually have trouble identifying the fruit and veg shop to the right (It was HODDER'S!).
Nancy Bailey is not painting at present- she says she is taking a Gap Year!
Incidentally that painting on the left has been sold but the one on the right is still available at the time of writing.

FIRST BLOG DAY

Here at the Lander Gallery in Truro sits a happy blogger trying to work out how to organise his Blog for the LANDER GALLERY TRURO. The many customers in the gallery this afternoon are all smiling, despite the metereological gloom which has me shutting windows with some frequency.
What I need now is so followers on my Blog.

LANDER GALLERY TRURO GOES BLOGGING!

July 18th is the day when the Lander Gallery Blogs for the first time