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Lot Essay
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Throughout the 1920s the Clausens regularly repaired to Hillside, their country retreat on Duton Hill, in Essex, and during these years the painter made frequent use of the narrow lanes and ancient bridleways that connected remote hamlets in the north of the county. Seen in the cool of a November morning the neighbouring cottages and bare trees were depicted, according to one writer, with ‘all the shimmering iridescence of mother o’ pearl’ (J. Lavery, Portraits in Oil and Vinegar, 1925, p. 89).
Two versions of Old Essex in November are known. One was shown at the artist’s retrospective exhibition at Barbizon House in 1928 (K. McConkey, George Clausen and the Picture of English Rural Life, 2012, p. 192 (illus.)). The second remained unfinished when, on 28 May 1929, Lady Cromer visited the artist’s studio and reserved it. The main differences between the two are the inclusion of the figure in the present example, and the reduction of wayside trees from two to one. The transaction was completed on 2 July. Five years later, on 4 October 1933, Lockett Thomson of Barbizon House contacted the painter to let him know that the picture had been sent for auction and it was subsequently acquired, with the painter taking a half share. The extended dating ‘1928-33’ in the inscription on the reverse suggests that Clausen retouched the picture.
KMc.
Throughout the 1920s the Clausens regularly repaired to Hillside, their country retreat on Duton Hill, in Essex, and during these years the painter made frequent use of the narrow lanes and ancient bridleways that connected remote hamlets in the north of the county. Seen in the cool of a November morning the neighbouring cottages and bare trees were depicted, according to one writer, with ‘all the shimmering iridescence of mother o’ pearl’ (J. Lavery, Portraits in Oil and Vinegar, 1925, p. 89).
Two versions of Old Essex in November are known. One was shown at the artist’s retrospective exhibition at Barbizon House in 1928 (K. McConkey, George Clausen and the Picture of English Rural Life, 2012, p. 192 (illus.)). The second remained unfinished when, on 28 May 1929, Lady Cromer visited the artist’s studio and reserved it. The main differences between the two are the inclusion of the figure in the present example, and the reduction of wayside trees from two to one. The transaction was completed on 2 July. Five years later, on 4 October 1933, Lockett Thomson of Barbizon House contacted the painter to let him know that the picture had been sent for auction and it was subsequently acquired, with the painter taking a half share. The extended dating ‘1928-33’ in the inscription on the reverse suggests that Clausen retouched the picture.
KMc.