Paul Nash

Lady Juliet Duff,
Lance Sieveking, circa 1944
W.G.Weston, by 1954
Private Collection, by 1958
Private Collection, U.S.A., from whom acquired by the present owners, October 1985

 

London, Leicester Galleries, Second Exhibition of the London Artists' Association, November 1927, ex.cat.;
Venice, XXI Biennale, British Pavilion, Paul Nash and Stanley Spencer, June 1938, cat. no.1;
Leeds, Temple Newsam House, Paintings and Drawings by Paul Nash, June 1943, cat. no.7;
London, Tate Gallery, Paul Nash: A Memorial Exhibition, March - May 1948, cat. no.17;
London, Arthur Tooth & Sons, February 1954, cat. no.19;
London, Tate Gallery, Paul Nash: Paintings and Watercolours, November 1975, cat. no.96.

 

Margot Eates (ed.) et al., Paul Nash: A Memorial Volume, Lund Humphries, London 1948, illustrated pl.34;
Andrew Causey, Paul Nash, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1980, cat. no.537, illustrated pl.473.

There are artist's pinholes in the corners of the canvas. The canvas is in good original condition. There are a few flecks of paint loss in the upper left corner and some craquelure in places across the paint surface. There is surface dirt in places. There is no sign of retouching under ultra-violet light. Held in a gilded composition frame. Please telephone the department on 020 7293 5381 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
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Painted in 1927.

Dated variously to 1926 and 1927, the present work belongs to a period when Nash's work was becoming increasingly metaphysical, and even the most obvious and simple subjects were becoming layered with meaning that is hardly discernible to the casual observer. In Canterbury Bells, the apparently simple imagery of the flowering plant outside a construction, perhaps a creeper-covered pergola in a sun-filled garden, clearly carried some additional message to which the artist himself makes reference in a letter to his friend, the writer and broadcaster Lance Sieveking, of 19^th November 1927,

I am really glad if you like that picture and possess it. It is a queer painting and by no means everyone's. I had secretly hoped it would be bought by a friend who would know what was meant by it.

Sieveking however did not acquire the picture at this point, it being originally owned by Lady Juliet Duff, but he certainly owned it by around 1944 when Nash again wrote to Sieveking congratulating him on the acquisition. Nash unfortunately gives us no indicator as to this meaning. However, at the time it was painted, Nash's interest in being able to imbue objects and settings with metaphysical inferences was developing and he was taking a close interest in not only the developments in European surrealist and metaphysical art, but also earlier English literary precedents, such as the writings of Sir Thomas Browne, the seventeenth-century author, antiquarian and physician.