Lionel Percy Smythe 1839-1918

Estimate

15,000 - 20,000 GBP

bidding is closed

Description

Lionel Percy Smythe
summer
signed and dated l.r.: L. Smythe/ 1907
oil on canvas
81.5 by 122 cm.; 32 by 48 in.

Exhibited

Royal Academy, 1909, no. 377;
Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, Autumn Exhibition, 1907, no. 233

Literature

Rosa M. Whitlaw and W. L. Wyllie, Lionel P. Smythe RA RWS; His Life and Work, 1923, p.176, repr. opposite p.174

Catalogue Note

Summer was almost certainly painted at Wimereaux near Boulogne, a popular sea-side resort where Smythe painted many of his pictures of local people. A young girl is paddling in the shallows, her bonnet and blonde hair stirred by the sea breeze. The French poodle tentatively taking to the shallows supports the assertion. The picture captures the shimmering qualities of light and purity of colour for which Smythe was celebrated.