Items Similar to The Hill, Hampstead, Signed Early 20th Century British Watercolour
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 5
Ernest Arthur RoweThe Hill, Hampstead, Signed Early 20th Century British Watercolour
About the Item
Watercolour and scratching out on paper, signed lower left
Image size: 11 x 17 1/2 inches (28 x 44.5 cm)
Original giltwood frame
Provenance
Christopher Wood Gallery
R Mellon, USA
Sir William Hesketh Lever (later Lord Leverhulme) purchased Hill House in 1904. The house was extensively rebuilt and enlarged for him, after which it became known as The Hill. The gardens were laid out in three phases, each following the purchase of the three separate properties that make up the present site.
When Lever purchased Hill House, the garden was on steeply sloping ground and Mawson levelled the site into terraces, providing terrace gardens in front of the house, a level lawn, and a pergola around the west and south sides of the garden in 1906. The terraces were constructed with the spoil from the Hampstead tube excavation. The kitchen gardens were laid out between the pergola and the south-west boundary of The Hill garden. In 1911 Lord Levehulme purchased Heath Lodge (the neighbouring property to the north-west) and demolished that house. Mawson extended the pergola across a bridge over the public road that separated the two properties to a circular Garden Temple and then after a long stretch of pergola to a Belvedere at the western end, overlooking the Heath and the former Heath Lodge gardens. A conservatory on the west side of the original pergola was demolished in the process and replaced by a Pergola Temple. Service buildings were built on the eastern portion of the newly acquired land and the two-acre gardens were incorporated within the scheme.
During the First World War Leverhulme purchased Cedar Lawn (the neighbouring property to the south) and in 1922 that house was also demolished and the pergola and garden were extended to the south.
Ernest Arthur Rowe
Born on the 21st August 1862 in Stratford, East London, Rowe was the son of Thomas and Adelaide Rowe. The youngest of five, he had a brother George and three sisters Florence, Annie and Bella.
Rowe started work at sixteen as an apprentice lithographer (the making of plates used to print book illustrations etc.) from October 1878 for five years to 1883. He was dismissed from his first job as a lithographer in February 1884 and started his training as an artist at the Royal Institute of Painters on 4th February 1884, winning the President’s Medal for Landscapes in 1885.
At the age of 23 he started to paint professionally and by working a fourteen hour day he earned £90 in his first summer of work. For the next ten years he had a hand to mouth existence, earning approximately £100 per year while attending the Lambeth School of Art in the evenings. He was constantly helped financially by his mother and brother George and was always selling his paintings to friends and family. His worst year was 1890, when he only earned £30. However, in the 1890s he became interested in garden painting which proved more successful and in 1895 he sold a single painting for £68.
Unfortunately he suffered from consumption. To alleviate this he went abroad during the worst periods of the English winters. He painted in France and Spain but mostly in Italy.
In 1895 he spent some time in a sanatorium in Davos, Switzerland and there he met his future wife - Nurse Sophy Slater - the daughter of a Baptist minister from Stow-on-the Wold in Gloucestershire. By 1899 his fortune had improved enough to persuade the Reverend Slater that he was worthy, and on 6th October 1899 he married Sophy at the Baptist Chapel at Bourton-on-the-Water.
He became extremely successful. In the summers he travelled all over the British Isles painting most of the famous gardens. In the winter he painted some of the beautiful gardens and villas in Italy, Sicily, Spain and France.
During his best years his paintings were exhibited in Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and London including twenty-six at the Royal Academy – twenty-four at the Royal Society of British Artists and twenty-two at the Royal Institute of Painters. Every other year he held exhibitions at either the Dowdeswell or Greatorex Galleries in London. These exhibitions were attended by many famous and titled people including Queen Alexandra, Queen Mary and Princess Alice.
It is known that Queen Mary purchased at least fifteen of his paintings over several years. The present Queen exhibited four of his paintings at an exhibition "Royal Gardens of England" which was held at Sandringham in Norfolk in 1989.
In 1907 all this good fortune enabled him to build his own house at Rusthall near. Tunbridge Wells which he named "Ravello" after his favourite place in Italy. He lived there until 1915 when the First World War put an end to his travelling abroad. As so many gardeners were lost in the fighting many of the gardens became overgrown and people stopped buying paintings. In order to survive he had to sell his treasured house and he was back to hard times.
His fortune picked up again in 1920 but this was short lived because he died of consumption on the 21st January 1922. A memorial exhibition was held in London in 1925, which was attended by Queen Mary. After this he was forgotten until the 1950's when it became fashionable once again for people to hang paintings on their walls. He was also researched by Christopher Wood - once the foremost authority on Victorian garden artists.
- Creator:Ernest Arthur Rowe (1860 - 1922, British)
- Dimensions:Height: 11 in (27.94 cm)Width: 17.5 in (44.45 cm)
- More Editions & Sizes:1 of 1Price: $7,664
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:London, GB
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU52413154372
About the Seller
5.0
Vetted Seller
These experienced sellers undergo a comprehensive evaluation by our team of in-house experts.
Established in 2007
1stDibs seller since 2014
63 sales on 1stDibs
Typical response time: 4 hours
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: London, United Kingdom
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 14 days of delivery.
More From This SellerView All
- Stirling CastleLocated in London, GBBRITISH SCHOOL 19th Century STIRLING CASTLE Watercolour, signed lower right Image size: 12 x 10 inches (30 x 25.5 cm)Category
19th Century Victorian Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsWatercolor
- Flower Gardens at Generalife, GranadaBy Ernest Arthur RoweLocated in London, GBWatercolour on paper, signed bottom left Image size: 13 3/4 x 9 1/2 inches (35 x 24 cm) Mounted and framed The Generalife was a summer palace and country estate of the Nasrid rulers...Category
Late 19th Century Victorian Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Watercolor
- Castle San Angelo, Rome, David Roberts, 19th Century Original WatercolourBy David RobertsLocated in London, GBPencil, watercolour and bodycolour heightened with white. Image size: 9 1/2 x 13 1/4 inches (24 x 34 cm) Hand made gilt frame Provenance The Fine Art Society 1981 (Label Verso) Priv...Category
Mid-19th Century Victorian Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Watercolor
- Circular Temple at Baalbek, Rare Original Signed Watercolour by David RobertsBy David RobertsLocated in London, GBWatercolour with touches of bodycolour on buff paper, signed lower middle and inscribed and dated '1839' lower left Image size: 8 1/2 x 12 1/4 inches (22 x 31 cm) Acid free mount and period style gilt frame This original watercolour by Roberts depicts the temple at Baalbek with the ruined palace behind, seen from the opposite bank of a brook, where a group of figures are seated and kneeling around a table, with an arched bridge nearby. David Roberts was the first professional British artist to travel independently to the Middle East in 1838. He was the first British artist to draw the ruins of Ancient Egypt and Roberts produced a series of finished watercolours, including the painting, which he had worked up from sketches made during his tour. Like many British artists he used the familiar visual language of European landscapes to capture the unfamiliar scenery. By using architectural motifs to provide structure to compositions like this he is able to present a dramatic scene of classical grandeur, illuminated by sunlight complemented by a large area of shade in the foreground. The dramatic scene is enhanced by the three groups of figures, which convey the sense of scale. The figures also give the picture richer, darker and redder tones that contrast with the sandy colours of the architecture. This painting uses a lot of the essential ingredients that make up a picturesque scene: distant mountains, classical ruins and figures for human interest and to convey motion. Robert's Trip to Baalbek David Roberts visited Baalbek near the end of his travels around Egypt and the Middle East. Roberts and his party rode to the site of Baalbek on 2nd May in a heavy-rain storm. He was miserable, totally drenched and feverish. But the sight of the ancient Roman settlement rallied him. Despite his physical debilitation, 'I was... so much struck with the magnificence of the temple, that I could not resist visiting and examining it'. The storm then continued through the night, pummelling the traveller's tents. In the morning, Roberts felt extremely ill and sought the help of a Greek priest, who found him dry shelter in a cowshed. For the first time on his gruelling journey, Roberts devoted the whole day to bed rest. On May 4th, regaining some strength, Roberts explored the site. With obscure origins connected with the god Baal, the city of Baalbek had grown to importance in Hellenistic times, when it was known as Heliopolis ('The City of the Sun'). In the first century B.C. the Romans had established a cult of the Heliopolitan Jupiter there, and both Josephus Flavius...Category
1830s Victorian Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsWatercolor
- St Peters Rome, 19th Century Victorian Signed WatercolourBy Ernest Arthur RoweLocated in London, GBERNEST ARTHUR ROWE 1863 - 1922 St Peter's Rome Watercolour Signed lower left Image size: 9 ¾ x 7 inches Original gilt frameCategory
19th Century Victorian Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsWatercolor
- Sketch-book Page, Shoreham, Samuel Palmer, Late 19th CenturyBy Samuel Palmer (b.1805)Located in London, GBGraphite on paper, numerous pencil inscriptions Image size: 5 1/2 x 21 1/2 inches (14 x 55 cm) Period style hand made gilt frame Provenance The collection of Ernest Pearce (1930-20...Category
Late 19th Century Victorian Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Graphite
You May Also Like
- Farm Scene with Figures c. 1870 a watercolor by Irish artist working in the USBy John FaulknerLocated in Philadelphia, PAJohn Faulkner (Irish, c. 1830-1888, active United States c. 1870-80) Farm Scene with Figures, c. 1870 Watercolor on paper, 20 x 28 inches (sight) FRAMED: 31 1/4 x 39 1/4 inches Sign...Category
1870s Victorian Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Watercolor
- John Edmund Buckley, Victorian scene of maidens under an oak treeLocated in Harkstead, GBAn enchanting scene of maidens conversing under the shade of an oak tree with lovely detailing and good strong colour. John Edmund Buckley ( 1824-1876) Maidens under an oak tree Sig...Category
Mid-19th Century Victorian Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Watercolor
- Cotman marine watercolor of sailing boat on the beachBy Frederick George CotmanLocated in Harkstead, GBFrederick George Cotman (1850-1920) Lugger on the shore Watercolour with trace of pencil 9 x 10 inches Provenance: Cotman family collection Frederick George Cotman was born in Ipswich on 14 August 1850. His uncle, John Sell Cotman, was one of the cornerstones of the Norwich school and a very influential watercolourist. Frederick's first tuition came from William Griffiths...Category
19th Century Victorian Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Watercolor, Pencil
- Cotman marine watercolor of rowing boat on the beachBy Frederick George CotmanLocated in Harkstead, GBFrederick George Cotman (1850-1920) A rowing boat on the shore Watercolour with trace of pencil 4¼ x 10¼ inches Provenance: Cotman family collection Frederick George Cotman was born in Ipswich on 14 August 1850. His uncle, John Sell Cotman, was one of the cornerstones of the Norwich school and a very influential watercolourist. Frederick's first tuition came from William Griffiths...Category
19th Century Victorian Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Watercolor, Pencil
- Thomas Leeson Rowbotham, Victorian blacksmithBy Thomas Charles Leeson RowbothamLocated in Harkstead, GBA really charming study of a blacksmith puffing on a clay pipe at the forge door. Thomas Charles Leeson Rowbotham Junr (1823-1875) Village Blacksmith Patterdale, Aug 1848 Signed, in...Category
Mid-19th Century Victorian Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Watercolor
- Cotman marine watercolor of fishermen's baskets on the beachBy Frederick George CotmanLocated in Harkstead, GBFrederick George Cotman (1850-1920) Fishing baskets on the shore Watercolour with trace of pencil 6 x 8 inches Provenance: Cotman family collection Frederick George Cotman was born in Ipswich on 14 August 1850. His uncle, John Sell Cotman, was one of the cornerstones of the Norwich school and a very influential watercolourist. Frederick's first tuition came from William Griffiths...Category
19th Century Victorian Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Watercolor, Pencil
Recently Viewed
View AllMore Ways To Browse
Antique School Slate
6th Bridge
Korean Military Portrait
Byron Wolfe
Dorothy Southern
Gerard Martin
Naive Portrait Animal
C Barth
Immaculate Conception Oil Painting
Salad Days
Victor Wilde
Metal Highway Sign
Reclining Female Nude Ink
Four Palm Tree Prints
Naive Paintings Boat
New Wave Extra Large
Renee Hunter
African American Art Oil Vintage