Landscape and River

We think this work could also be known as "Village by the Sea", not to be confused with Village by the Sea (1970). See comment below.

There are several identical black and white photographs of this undated painting in the RE archives, probably sent to Richard for use in publicity for an exhibiton. They were taken by A.C. Cooper fine art photographers in London in the 1950s or 60s. There are other photos by Coopers in the RE archives too, mainly of paintings that were shown in the Royal Academy summer shows from the early 1950's onwards. This makes us wonder if this work appeared in a summer show too. The most likely candidate would be "Village by the Sea" listed in the 1962 catalogue, as …

read more..

There are several identical black and white photographs of this undated painting in the RE archives, probably sent to Richard for use in publicity for an exhibiton. They were taken by A.C. Cooper fine art photographers in London in the 1950s or 60s. There are other photos by Coopers in the RE archives too, mainly of paintings that were shown in the Royal Academy summer shows from the early 1950's onwards. This makes us wonder if this work appeared in a summer show too. The most likely candidate would be "Village by the Sea" listed in the 1962 catalogue, as cat 6. Sadly we do not know the dimensions which would give us some more clues.

The painting has recently (April 2023) been photographed for auction, so we can now view the work in colour. The new photo confirms our suspicion that the painting might date from around 1939.

Richard made a journey on a naval ship sketching the coastal towns from Antwerp to Dunkirk and St Malo in May 1939 a few months before the start of the war. Several paintings came out of that trip which have the same feel as this work, particularly in the way the clouds are done, and if you look at the 1939 sketch below you can see the houses half hidden by the dykes near the mouth of the River Shedlt at Flushing (Vlissingen), as they are in the painting. Richard could have painted the picture or started painting it in 1939 and finished it later. There are also instances where he returned to sketches many decades after they were done and created a painting from them.

We are going to keep the details merged for "Village by the Sea" shown at the RA in 1962 and "Landscape and River" for now.