Fireplace Landscape Paintings

Work on canvas Signature annotated on frame on the back

The Great Fire of London in September 1666 was one of the greatest disasters in the city’s history. The City, with its wooden houses crowded together in narrow streets, was a natural fire risk, and predictions that London would burn down became a shocking reality. The fire began in a bakery in Pudding Lane, an area near the Thames teeming with warehouses and shops full of flammable materials, such as timber, oil, coal, pitch and turpentine. Inevitably the fire spread rapidly from this area into the City. Our painting depicts the impact of the fire on those who were caught in it and creates a very dramatic impression of what the fire was like. Closer inspection reveals a scene of chaos and panic with people running out of the gates. It shows Cripplegate in the north of the City, with St Giles without Cripplegate to its left, in flames (on the site of the present day Barbican). The painting probably represents the fire on the night of Tuesday 4 September, when four-fifths of the City was burning at once, including St Paul's Cathedral. Old St Paul’s can be seen to the right of the canvas, the medieval church with its thick stone walls, was considered a place of safety, but the building was covered in wooden scaffolding as it was in the midst of being restored by the then little known architect, Christopher Wren and caught fire. Our painting seems to depict a specific moment on the Tuesday night when the lead on St Paul’s caught fire and, as the diarist John Evelyn described: ‘the stones of Paul’s flew like grenades, the melting lead running down the streets in a stream and the very pavements glowing with the firey redness, so as no horse, nor man, was able to tread on them.’ Although the loss of life was minimal, some accounts record only sixteen perished, the magnitude of the property loss was shocking – some four hundred and thirty acres, about eighty per cent of the City proper was destroyed, including over thirteen thousand houses, eighty-nine churches, and fifty-two Guild Halls. Thousands were homeless and financially ruined. The Great Fire, and the subsequent fire of 1676, which destroyed over six hundred houses south of the Thames, changed the appearance of London forever. The one constructive outcome of the Great Fire was that the plague, which had devastated the population of London since 1665, diminished greatly, due to the mass death of the plague-carrying rats in the blaze. The fire was widely reported in eyewitness accounts, newspapers, letters and diaries. Samuel Pepys recorded climbing the steeple of Barking Church from which he viewed the destroyed City: ‘the saddest sight of desolation that I ever saw.’ There was an official enquiry into the causes of the fire, petitions to the King and Lord Mayor to rebuild, new legislation and building Acts. Naturally, the fire became a dramatic and extremely popular subject for painters and engravers. A group of works relatively closely related to the present picture have been traditionally ascribed to Jan Griffier...

Abraham van CUYLENBROCH (1620-1658) Diana With Her Attendants in a Grotto 1651 signed oil on panel 12.2 in x 15.7 inches, inc. frame; 31 x 40 cm Provenance: Sale of Sotheby's Lo...

This charming oil on board by Lord Paul Ayshford Methuen RA depicts the Hotel d'Aligre at 30 Rue Damiette, Rouen in Normandy, France. The building, which is a 16th century mansion in the centre of the city, still exists today. The painting shows the back wing of the building with the access porch to the main courtyard. Please see final image for a present day view with the addition of windows in the roof. The work was most likely painted during or just after WW2, when Methuen was serving as a captain in the British Army. He wrote a book ''Normandy Diary'' recounting his experiences with the Procurement and Fine Art branch, which was set up to protect works of art during the invasion of the continent. A finely painted and atmospheric work which clearly shows the influence of Methuen's one time teacher Walter Sickert. Signed on the reverse and presented in a beautiful gilt frame. Artist: Lord Paul Ayshford Methuen RA (English, 1886-1974) Title: Hotel d'Aligre, Rouen Medium: Oil on board Size: 22 x 16.5 inches (56 x 42 cm) including the frame Lord Methuen (Paul Ayshford Methuen, 4th Baron), RA, RWS, PRWA (1886-1974) was a well known painter in oil, watercolour and pastel of landscapes, town scenes and figures subjects. Born at Corsham in Wiltshire he studied art under Sir Charles Holmes and later under Walter Sickert. He had his first one man show at the Warren Gallery in 1928 and later had several shows with The Leicester Galleries and Colnaghi's. He exhibited extensively at the major galleries, and was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy 1951, full RA 1959, member of the Royal Watercolour Society 1952, Royal Society of British Artists 1939, New English Art Club 1943, and President of the Royal West of England Academy. His work is represented in a number of major collections, including the Tate Gallery (five examples), the Victoria & Albert Museum, and several collections in the provinces. He lived in London and at the family home at Corsham Court in Wiltshire, where he established an influential art school in 1946. Further information The Hôtel d'Aligre is a private mansion located in Rouen , France. The first body of building on this location was called the Hôtel des Presses or Hôtel des Étuves , owned by the wealthy Dufour manufacturing family. Mentioned for the first time in 1446, it was rebuilt in the second half of the 16th century by Guillaume de Fieu. Guillaume Le Fieu (November 9, 1584) was treasurer-secretary to Catherine de Medici then receiver general of the Generality of Rouen and finally ordinary master of the Chamber of Accounts of Normandy. His daughter Marie married Pierre de Couldray, sieur de Féville, king's secretary. It was in this hotel that resided at the end of the 16th century Lord Clarendon, minister in exile of the King of England. The property then became the possession of the Dambrays, Sieurs de Montigny, then in 1729 to the Godefroy de Senneville...

3 Original paintings. Pocket Striped Bellona Tulip is an original oil painting by Dani Humberstone as part of her Pocket Painting series featuring small scale realistic oil paintings, with a nod to baroque still life painting. The paintings are set in a black wood layered frame...

Ilario Mercanti, known as ‘lo Spolverini’ (Parma, 1657 - 1734) Scene of a night-time naval battle oil on copper (oval) 59 x 74 cm - with frame 83 x 98 cm NB: please note that...

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Published. Frame size 69x61 cm. Josep Maria Vayreda Canadell Year of birth: 1932 Biography: Member of a family spanish saga of artists, which highlighted Jo...

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Work on cardboard Beige wooden frame 67.5 x 86 x 4 cm

Artist: Bill Shaddix – American (1931- ) Title: Deep Shadows Year: circa 1980 Medium: Oil on canvas Size: 15.5 x 19.5 inches. Framed size: 27 x 31 inches...

An Oil painting by Melissa Franklin Sanchez. Hammershoi’s successful influence is felt in Franklin’s “The Sound of Silence” as she paints an interior with more profundity than befo...

Provenance Acquired by the gallery directly from the artist. FRAMED: 50.375" x 40.375" x 1.625" UNFRAMED: 40" x 30" Artist Statement "As a young boy, my father o...

This exhibition highlights Adam Gunn’s latest work, consisting of oil paintings on wood panels. This recent body of work was inspired by three coinciding events in the artist’s life:...

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