MARK SENIOR | A VIEW UP PARK ROW TOWARDS ST ANNE'S CATHEDRAL, LEEDS

Christie's, London, 17 June 2014, lot 111

Mark Senior, the son of a blanket weaver, was born in Batley in 1862 and lived his youth in Ossett before moving to Leeds in 1896. He was one of the best-known of the Staithes School of painters, particularly associated with Impressionistic coastal landscapes and modern cityscapes painted in Yorkshire. The present picture was probably painted after 1916 when Senior moved to a new studio at Sun Buildings, 15 Park Row at the north end of which stood the Arts and Crafts St Anne's Roman Catholic Cathedral. On the left is a crowd of people entering the imposing portico of the Literary and Philosophical Society Hall which housed a museum until 1966. Senior painted a similar but smaller canvas, from a vantage point in nearby Commercial Street (Leeds Museums and Galleries).