The Hammock - with acknowledgements to Wadsworth

This painting is a pastiche of a picture by Edward Wadsworth with whom Richard had a long correspondence.

During what were for him the often dull days of the war (he had no work as a War Artist to preoccupy him), Edward Wadsworth suggested that he and Eurich painted, purely as a wartime pastime, versions of each other’s paintings. He picked Eurich’s Mousehole, Cornwall (1938), now in the collection of Rochdale Arts & Heritage Service, while his correspondent chose to paint a version of Wadsworth’s Le Havre (Basin de l’Eure), 1939, now in the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle.

Towards the end of October 1942, Eurich wrote in his diary: ‘Started a small painting from one …

read more..

During what were for him the often dull days of the war (he had no work as a War Artist to preoccupy him), Edward Wadsworth suggested that he and Eurich painted, purely as a wartime pastime, versions of each other’s paintings. He picked Eurich’s Mousehole, Cornwall (1938), now in the collection of Rochdale Arts & Heritage Service, while his correspondent chose to paint a version of Wadsworth’s Le Havre (Basin de l’Eure), 1939, now in the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle.

Towards the end of October 1942, Eurich wrote in his diary: ‘Started a small painting from one of Wadsworth’s pictures, making alterations where I felt like it.’ Two days later, he had finished it, writing: ‘I wonder what he will think of my “improvements”.’ There is no record of what the older artist thought, and the painting, which Eurich titled The Hammock and painted in oil on a gessoed panel, is currently untraced [see comment below]. The main change is that the strange draped shape across the foreground has been wittily turned into a hammock containing two figures. Sadly, there doesn’t seem to be a “Eurich" by Wadsworth: perhaps he never attempted one, or was dissatisfied with the results and destroyed it.

A recent auction revealed that the painting was owned by private collectors Bill and Cherry Palmer from the early 1990s and was passed down the family until it was sold by auction in 2024.