Dame Laura Knight, RA, RWS, (British, 1877-1970)

Sennen Cove, Cornwall 51 x 61 cm. (20 1/16 x 24 in.)

Sennen Cove, Cornwall
signed 'Laura Knight' (lower right)
oil on canvas
51 x 61 cm. (20 1/16 x 24 in.)

Provenance
With Richard Green Ltd., London, 1993, from whom purchased by
Private Collection, U.K.

The present lot, probably painted in the early 1920s, is a triumphant example of Laura Knight's Cornish work. Drawn like many of their generation to the English coast, Harold and Laura Knight lived and worked in the Yorkshire town of Staithes in the late 19th Century before discovering Cornwall. During their first trip in 1908 they were made welcome by Stanhope Forbes, father of the Newlyn artists colony, and their circle of friends included many of the original artist settlers in Newlyn such as Walter Langley and Frank Bramley, as well as Sir Alfred Munnings, who was to become close friends with the couple.

The couple returned to live in London in 1919 but would retreat to West Cornwall each summer, painting in Sennen, Lamorna and Mousehole. The present lot makes an interesting comparison with Knight's 1922 work Autumn Sunlight, Sennen Cove, Cornwall, (Collection of Birmingham Museums Trust) which shows a more expansive view of the cove, from a higher vantage point.