The Wreck of the Herzogin Cecilie (1944)
Photo: Paul Carter      
© Southampton City Art Gallery / Richard Eurich Paintings

The Wreck of the Herzogin Cecilie

1944

Oil on canvas
74 x 100 cm

Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton, Hampshire

More details...


Recto: Undated but signed lower right: R. Eurich. and inscribed lower left: "Farewell, Herzogin Cecilie"; The date 1944 is confirmed by an mention in an RE diary.

Aka: Wreck of the Herzogin Cecilie [RA, Redfern, and Russell-Cotes]; Farewell, Herzogin Cecilie [inscription recto]; ; The Wreck of the 'Herzogin Cecilie' [Bradford 1951 and 1979, Southampton, and BBC Your Paintings]; Wreck of the Herzogin Cecille [RA catalogue]; Wreck of the Herpgin Cecilie [spelling error NEAC]; The Wreck of the Hertzogin Cecilie [RE sales diary]

Verso: Southampton Art Gallery label

Other measurements: 74 x 100 cm [artist’s estate]; 76.5 x 101.7 cm [Southampton]

Devon Salcombe The South West Southampton City Art Gallery aground beached birds boats breeches breeches buoy buoy cliff collection figures grain grain ship gulls mast masted masted ship overcast public public collection rain rainbow rainy sailing sailing ship ship ships shipwreck tall tall ship umbrellas waves wind windjammer windy wreck wrecked

This painting commemorates the wreck of the clipper ship Herzogin Cecilie off the Dorset coast in 1936. No-one was hurt, but to see the beautiful ship stuck there almost undamaged but doomed was quite a tragedy. Dad said that he painted the rainy day to express the flowing of his tears. Whether the little streak of a rainbow is a dying hope is hard to say.

REP / PB

1st March 1944: "To London with ‘Bombardment of Salerno’, ‘Fortresses over Southampton’, to Admiralty. ‘Night Raid on Portsmouth’ to the RA. Tried to find frame for ‘Cecilie’."

30th March 1944: "Worked all day to finish the painting of the wreck of the Herzogin Cecilie (30x40). Want to send it to the RA."

RE diary

"The loving precision of the Hertzogin Cecilie has been superseded by near-sentimentality and a somewhat flaccid rusticity. The painter is not, one feels, engaged. Eurich is a reporter, not a novelist. But the grand occasion is necessary to fill the sails of his imagination, the impossible problem necessary to extend his powers full-stretch. To both of these, as we know, he can rise superbly."

View more of the review here.

Provenance

EXHIBITED | 29th Apr to 7th Aug 1944

"Summer Exhibition 1944" - Royal Academy of Arts, London

Cat 695

NOTE | 1st Sep 1947

Richard's diary records that he "repainted Herzogin Cecile".

EXHIBITED | 18th Oct to 8th Nov 1947

"New English Art Club 100th Exhibition (Members Work, Winter)" - RBA Galleries, Suffolk St Gallery, Pall Mall East, London

Cat 158

EXHIBITED | 8th Mar to 2nd Apr 1949

"Richard Eurich, Walter Goetz, Frances Richards" - Redfern Gallery, London

Cat 31

EXHIBITED | 15th Oct to 4th Nov 1949

"Hampshire Artists Exhibition", Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton

Cat 13

ACQUIRED | 10th Dec 1949

Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton, Hampshire

purchased from the artist with the assistance of the Frederick William Smith Bequest Fund; accession number 1371

EXHIBITED | 1st Jun to 26th Aug 1951

"RETROSPECTIVE EXHIBITION OF OIL PAINTINGS by RICHARD EURICH, A.R.A." - City of Bradford Art Gallery, Cartwright Hall, Bradford

Cat 44 - lent by the Corporation of Southampton

EXHIBITED | 16th May to 13th Jun 1964

"Five R.A.s: Charles Cundall, William Dring, R.O. Dunlop, Richard Eurich, Lord Methuen" - Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum, Bournemouth

Cat 14 - lent by Southampton City Art Gallery

EXHIBITED | 25th Nov 1979 to 20th Jan 1980

"Richard Eurich, RA - A Retrospective Exhibition" - Cartwright Hall Gallery, Bradford District Museums and Galleries, Bradford    (toured Glasgow, London, Southampton)

Cat 35

EXHIBITED | 28th Jan to 13th Mar 1994

"The Edge of all the Land: Richard Eurich 1903-1992" - Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton    (toured to Manchester, Bradford, Ipswich)

Cat 44

EXHIBITED | 20th Mar to 29th May 2004

"Sea Change - Paintings by Richard Eurich in War and Peace" - St. Barbe Museum and Art Gallery, Lymington

EXHIBITED | 19th Sep 2015 to 9th Jan 2016

"Shorelines", St. Barbe Museum and Art Gallery, Lymington, UK

EXHIBITED | 13th Jan to 17th Mar 2018

"Southern Shores", Gosport Gallery, Gosport

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Provenance:

  • ACQUIRED - 10th Dec 1949 - Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton, Hampshire
    purchased from the artist with the assistance of the Frederick William Smith Bequest Fund; accession number 1371

Exhibitions:

  • 29th Apr to 7th Aug 1944 - "Summer Exhibition 1944", Royal Academy of Arts, London
    Cat 695
  • 18th Oct to 8th Nov 1947 - "New English Art Club 100th Exhibition (Members Work, Winter)", RBA Galleries, Suffolk St Gallery, Pall Mall East, London
    Cat 158
  • 8th Mar to 2nd Apr 1949 - "Richard Eurich, Walter Goetz, Frances Richards", Redfern Gallery, London
    Cat 31
  • 15th Oct to 4th Nov 1949 - "Hampshire Artists Exhibition", Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton
    Cat 13
  • 1st Jun to 26th Aug 1951 - "RETROSPECTIVE EXHIBITION OF OIL PAINTINGS by RICHARD EURICH, A.R.A.", City of Bradford Art Gallery, Cartwright Hall, Bradford
    Cat 44 - lent by the Corporation of Southampton
  • 16th May to 13th Jun 1964 - "Five R.A.s: Charles Cundall, William Dring, R.O. Dunlop, Richard Eurich, Lord Methuen", Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum, Bournemouth
    Cat 14 - lent by Southampton City Art Gallery
  • 25th Nov 1979 to 20th Jan 1980 - "Richard Eurich, RA - A Retrospective Exhibition", Cartwright Hall Gallery, Bradford District Museums and Galleries, Bradford    (toured Glasgow, London, Southampton)
    Cat 35
  • 28th Jan to 13th Mar 1994 - "The Edge of all the Land: Richard Eurich 1903-1992", Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton    (toured to Manchester, Bradford, Ipswich)
    Cat 44
  • 20th Mar to 29th May 2004 - "Sea Change - Paintings by Richard Eurich in War and Peace", St. Barbe Museum and Art Gallery, Lymington
  • 19th Sep 2015 to 9th Jan 2016 - "Shorelines", St. Barbe Museum and Art Gallery, Lymington, UK
  • 13th Jan to 17th Mar 2018 - "Southern Shores", Gosport Gallery, Gosport

Notes:

  • 1st Sep 1947 - NOTE
    Richard's diary records that he "repainted Herzogin Cecile".

Related  

Wreck and Landslip, Yorkshire Coast (1968)

Image © Bonhams

 

Shipwreck (c1945)

Image © The Collector

 

Shipwreck (1959)

Image © Royal Academy of Arts

 

Rescue from a Wreck (1923)

Image © Richard Eurich Paintings

 

Shipwreck (1960s)

Image © Richard Eurich Paintings

 

Beached Trawler (1955)

Image © Rosebery's London

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