William Leech, R.H.A. Snow Scene, Roquebrune Vista
William Leech, R.H.A.
1881 - 1968
Snow Scene, Roquebrune Vista
oil on canvas
unframed: 51 by 61.5 cm.; 20 by 24 1/4 in.
framed: 69 by 79 cm.; 27 1/4 by 31 in.
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William Leech, R.H.A.
1881 - 1968
Snow Scene, Roquebrune Vista
huile sur toile
sans cadre: 51 by 61.5 cm.; 20 by 24 1/4 in.
avec cadre: 69 by 79 cm.; 27 1/4 by 31 in.
Condition Report:
The canvas is unlined. There are fine lines of craquelure throughout the white pigment, however these all appear to be stable. There is some rubbing and flecks of loss to the extreme edges of the canvas, in line with the age of the painting, not visible in the current frame. There is some light surface dirt. The work is in overall excellent condition.
Catalogue Note:
Following in a long line of artists to leave the British Isles in search of adventure, including amongst many others JMW Turner and Richard Parkes Bonington, William Leech spent the winter of 1911 travelling through Switzerland, Italy and France. The snow scenes he painted during this trip are some of the most exciting products of the excursion and range from extensive mountain landscape such as The Rocks at Naye (1911, private collection) to the delicate intimacy of the present work.
Leech’s work from this period owes a considerable debt to Monet’s winter paintings, a notable influence for the present work being, The Magpie (1869, Musée d’Orsay, Paris). The stark winter light throwing up a panoply of blues from within the snow. However he was also strongly influenced by JM Whistler, whose low tones and pared back palette left their mark on Leech’s early career. It is exactly this simplicity of palette which so effectively conveys the delicate fall of light across the scene. The delicate flecks of red fizzing across the surface. He exhibited many of these works at the Goupil gallery in April and May 1912, and the critic for The Times described him as, 'an artist who aims at vivid illusion by means of that process of elimination which was practised by Whistler. His subjects [and his free, impressionistic approach] however, are very different from those of Whistler, and he is not a mere copyist. Where the illusion fails, his pictures are quite empty; but it is strong enough in several of his snow scenes and in his sea-piece Monaco, to compensate for their slightness; indeed the slightness makes the illusion more agreeable, because it seems to be so easily obtained'.
Dennis Ferran commented, in the catalogue for Leech’s 1996 retrospective, 'In this painting, Leech focuses on the light from the morning sun which casts soft, blue shadows and lights up the snow-laden branches of the winter trees. The weight of snow can be sensed lying thickly on the branches, and obstacles on the ground protrude from under the new fall of snow. The depth of the far shadows creates a cave-like effect in the branches. Leech displays remarkable accomplishment as a painter in his representation of the lightness and sparkle of the snow and the blueness of the shadows in this magical, fairytale scene' (see D. Ferran, William John Leech An Irish Painter Abroad, National Gallery of Ireland Exhibition Catalogue, Dublin, 1996, pp. 56-9 and 142).
Provenance:
Dr Halperin
Stephen Somerville
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2003
---------------------------------------------------
Dr Halperin
Stephen Somerville
Acquis auprès du précédent par le propriétaire actuel en 2003
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William Leech, R.H.A.
1881 - 1968
Snow Scene, Roquebrune Vista
oil on canvas
unframed: 51 by 61.5 cm.; 20 by 24 1/4 in.
framed: 69 by 79 cm.; 27 1/4 by 31 in.
---------------------------------------------------
William Leech, R.H.A.
1881 - 1968
Snow Scene, Roquebrune Vista
huile sur toile
sans cadre: 51 by 61.5 cm.; 20 by 24 1/4 in.
avec cadre: 69 by 79 cm.; 27 1/4 by 31 in.
Condition Report:
The canvas is unlined. There are fine lines of craquelure throughout the white pigment, however these all appear to be stable. There is some rubbing and flecks of loss to the extreme edges of the canvas, in line with the age of the painting, not visible in the current frame. There is some light surface dirt. The work is in overall excellent condition.
Catalogue Note:
Following in a long line of artists to leave the British Isles in search of adventure, including amongst many others JMW Turner and Richard Parkes Bonington, William Leech spent the winter of 1911 travelling through Switzerland, Italy and France. The snow scenes he painted during this trip are some of the most exciting products of the excursion and range from extensive mountain landscape such as The Rocks at Naye (1911, private collection) to the delicate intimacy of the present work.
Leech’s work from this period owes a considerable debt to Monet’s winter paintings, a notable influence for the present work being, The Magpie (1869, Musée d’Orsay, Paris). The stark winter light throwing up a panoply of blues from within the snow. However he was also strongly influenced by JM Whistler, whose low tones and pared back palette left their mark on Leech’s early career. It is exactly this simplicity of palette which so effectively conveys the delicate fall of light across the scene. The delicate flecks of red fizzing across the surface. He exhibited many of these works at the Goupil gallery in April and May 1912, and the critic for The Times described him as, 'an artist who aims at vivid illusion by means of that process of elimination which was practised by Whistler. His subjects [and his free, impressionistic approach] however, are very different from those of Whistler, and he is not a mere copyist. Where the illusion fails, his pictures are quite empty; but it is strong enough in several of his snow scenes and in his sea-piece Monaco, to compensate for their slightness; indeed the slightness makes the illusion more agreeable, because it seems to be so easily obtained'.
Dennis Ferran commented, in the catalogue for Leech’s 1996 retrospective, 'In this painting, Leech focuses on the light from the morning sun which casts soft, blue shadows and lights up the snow-laden branches of the winter trees. The weight of snow can be sensed lying thickly on the branches, and obstacles on the ground protrude from under the new fall of snow. The depth of the far shadows creates a cave-like effect in the branches. Leech displays remarkable accomplishment as a painter in his representation of the lightness and sparkle of the snow and the blueness of the shadows in this magical, fairytale scene' (see D. Ferran, William John Leech An Irish Painter Abroad, National Gallery of Ireland Exhibition Catalogue, Dublin, 1996, pp. 56-9 and 142).
Provenance:
Dr Halperin
Stephen Somerville
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2003
---------------------------------------------------
Dr Halperin
Stephen Somerville
Acquis auprès du précédent par le propriétaire actuel en 2003
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
