Tom Rooth

A giant house spider, in a hand-carved spiderweb patterned frame, circa 1880

2023

'Death's head moths under a full-moon' work was created by Tom Rooth in the Cambrian Mountains of Wales. Production process: Tom makes the ceramic panel, which then dries for a month. After this, he carves it down, and then it goes into the kiln for a 48 hour cycle firing. Tom then draws onto the panel, with underglaze pencils, and then glazes the artwork which goes into the kiln once more, for another 48 hour firing cycle. It is then ready for the frame (the frame dictates the subject-matter). Kintsugi is a 15th-Century practice invented in Japan, and means 'to join with gold'. The practice is a reminder to embrace flaws, and celebrate the missteps of life, recognising that when seemingly catastrophic events happen, beauty and good can still result. Tom has an expert knowledge of frames - his parents were framers and restorers, and he worked at Christie's as Senior Picture Specialist and Director for 14 years, and prior to this Bonhams, Phillips and Sotheby's. Tom's works are unique, highly decorative, highly original, and will compliment any interior, whether traditional or contemporary. Tom has exhibited at The Treasure House...

This work was created by Tom Rooth in the Cambrian Mountains of Wales, where Tom lives, off-grid. Production process: Tom makes the ceramic panel, which then dries for a month. After this, he carves it down, and then it goes into the kiln for a 48 hour cycle firing. Tom then draws onto the panel, with underglaze pencils, and then glazes the artwork which goes into the kiln once more, for another 48 hour firing cycle. It is then ready for the frame (the frame dictates the subject-matter). Tom has an expert knowledge of frames - his parents were framers and restorers, and he worked at Christie's as Senior Picture Specialist and Director for 14 years, and prior to this Bonhams, Phillips and Sotheby's. Tom's works are unique, highly decorative, highly original, and will compliment any interior, whether traditional or contemporary. Tom has exhibited at The Treasure House...

This work was created by Tom Rooth in the Cambrian Mountains of Wales. A colony of toads live under and around his cottage, and in the summer nights (particularly when going to the kiln late at night to close the vent), Tom often encounters them. They have lived there for generations. Production process: Tom makes the ceramic panel, which then dries for a month. After this, he carves it down, and then it goes into the kiln for a 48 hour cycle firing. Tom then draws onto the panel, with underglaze pencils, and then glazes the artwork which goes into the kiln once more, for another 48 hour firing cycle. It is then ready for the frame (the frame dictates the subject-matter). Tom has an expert knowledge of frames - his parents were framers and restorers, and he worked at Christie's as Senior Picture Specialist and Director for 14 years, and prior to this Bonhams, Phillips and Sotheby's. Tom's works are unique, highly decorative, highly original, and will compliment any interior, whether traditional or contemporary. Tom has exhibited at The Treasure House...

Richard Westall, R.A. (1765-1836) Venus signed and dated ‘R. Westall 1794’ (lower right) pencil and watercolour, with white heightening image 11 ⅞ x 15 ¼ in. (30.2 x 38.7 cm.) frame 22 ⅛ x 26 in. (56.3 x 66.1 cm.) Provenance: Private Collection, UK. Venus (1794) was produced during a highly creative and defining period of Richard Westall’s career and artistic development, when from 1790-95 the ambitious young artist was sharing a house at 57 Greek Street, Soho, with his friend Sir Thomas Lawrence, the future President of the Royal Academy. Whilst lodging together, Lawrence became an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1791, Westall the following year, and both were elected full-members in 1794 – the year Lawrence was appointed Painter-in-Ordinary to His Majesty King George III. Westall was to become Queen Victoria’s first Drawing Master, before her ascension to the throne. It was in this very year, 1794 - as the two young artists became Royal Academicians - that the present watercolour was executed, and it is exciting to speculate that Lawrence would have examined and given his thoughts on the work. Highly comparable to The Wallace Collection’s Nymph and cupids (c.1793, cat. P757), acquired by Francis Seymour-Conway (1777-1842), 3rd Marquess of Hertford, (who hung it in his bedroom), the mid-1790s saw Westall exhibiting and returning to similar subject-matter on a number of occasions. Two works with titles that could be applied to the present picture were exhibited at the Royal Academy, in 1794 (no. 341 Nymph and Cupids) and 1795 (no. 620, A Wood–nymph and Cupids). However, a print after the watercolour, engraved by F. Screen, entitles the piece Venus. Westall is regarded as a great virtuoso watercolourist, and Venus is evidence of the young artist’s mastery of the medium. Indeed, it is unusual to find a watercolour of comparable age so well preserved, and retaining such vibrancy - the superb condition providing an insight into his exceptional brushwork and use of colour. Venus languishes luxuriously on her woodland bed, the trunk of a tree resembling a curtain, while three winged putti play beside her, seeming to gesture to someone in the woods. Cupid draws back his bow and aims an arrow of love, perhaps about to pierce the heart of a hunting nobleman, or unsuspecting woodcutter. The striking contrast between the almost luminescent nymph, with the deep, rich, luxuriant forest, gives the glade an alluring sense of mystery – perhaps an allusion to the mysteries of the heart, a pre-occupation with Romanticism, central to the emerging thought of the time. Westall can be classified as one of the great Romantic artists, and even painted Lord Byron’s portrait...

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