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All Paintings & Prints
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About
"Artist" Frames
All Paintings & Prints
can be supplied in
"ready to hang"
handmade and
hand-embellished
"Artist Frames"
All Paintings & Prints
can be supplied in
"ready to hang"
handmade and
hand-embellished
"Artist Frames"
This Legendary Art
is, the most unlikely painting the Artist ever made . . . ."Though
I lived in London for 47 years I hardly ever had cause to go near what
Londoners used to call "Buck House" (as back in the day it was indeed
called Buckingham House before it became known as Buckingham Palace).
As a child, though my parents took me on many, many Sunday walks all
over London, I think we only ever walked down the Mall once and it was
not until I got to Art School in Charing Cross Road that I ever had
cause to more than once, when a college project, a drawing project in
nearby St. Jame's Park, caused me to spend time near this legendary
building."As
almost anybody knows, it is the official London residence of the
reigning British Monarch, but its history, stretching far back into the
days of Wiliam the Conquerer and earlier, are a hugely fascinating
subject. "Originally
a large townhouse built for the Duke of Buckingham in 1703, acquired by
George III in 1761 as a private residence, known as "The Queen's
House", it was enlarged over the next 75 years, mainly by architects
John Nash and Edward Blore, Buckingham Palace finally became the
official Royal palace of the British monarch on the accession of Queen
Victoria in 1837. The palace chapel was destroyed by a German Luftwaffe
bomb in World War II and the Queen's Gallery was built on the site and
opened to the public in 1962 to exhibit works of art from the Royal
Collection, which I was introduced to by my wonderful School Art
teacher, Robert Spearman, who was so pivotal in exposing me to
everythng from Leonardo's works at "Buck House" to Van Gogh at the
brand new Haywood Gallery on the Southbank - heady days for a very
young back in the 60's. "The
history of the actual site is a truly fascinating one, too complex to
detail
here, but touching upon such pivotal points in British history and
associated names as the Manor of Ebury (Middle Ages - also called Eia)
the River Tyburn, a "lost river" that flowed
from
South Hampstead to the Thames that crossed
Regent's Park, followed Marylebone Lane to Piccadilly near Green
Park, and into the main river near Vauxhall Bridge. The river branched
a number of
times ('Ty' means "two") and now it runs
from South Hampstead through St. James's Park to meet the River Thames
at Pimlico near Vauxhall Bridge and flows through
underground conduits for its entire length. Marylebone Lane follows the
course of the Tyburn through part of Marylebone Village, where the
village of Tyburn, recorded in the Domesday Book, stood
approximately at the west end of Oxford Street."Ownership
of the actual site changed hands many, many times, from such as Edward
the
Confessor and queen consort Edith of Wessex in late Saxon times,
William the Conqueror, Geoffrey de Mandeville who bequeathed it to the
monks of Westminster Abbey, Henry VIII acquired the Hospital of St
James (St. James's Palace) from Eton College, and finally it went back
into
royal hands for the first time since William the Conqueror nearly 500
years earlier. James I then sold off part of the Crown freehold
retaining
part of the site and, eventually, in the late 17th century, the
freehold was inherited from the property tycoon Sir Hugh Audley by the
great heiress Mary Davies. And so it goes on . . . . . . "Tyburn
itself of course has a notorious history. For several hundred
years condemned men and women travelled from Newgate to Tyburn, place
of very public execution. At the junction of Edgware Road, Park Lane
and
Oxford Street, the gallows overlooked Hyde Park and the number of
people
who died there numbered perhaps 40,000 to 60,000, mostly
"commoners". It
ended in 1783."Maybe,
being "commoners" my parents had roots (it is said my great (add a few
greats) great Uncle Jones was a Welsh Pirate, but not a very successful
one as he got hung by the English!) that unconsciously caused them to
stay clear of "Buck House and The Tyburn". My mother, being
Scottish, probably had zero affinity with English Royalty
being a proud member of
"Clan Stuart" and definitely a fan of Bonnie Prince Charlie."In
any event, none of this has much to do with why I made the watercolour,
which I openly admit, was from a pang of nostalgia. I LOVE my "studio
in the Country" and Shropshire is like paradise on Earth as far as I am
concerned, but I do miss "London Town" now and then, and on a walk
around on a recent visit, out came the sketch pad and, well, it's "what
I do" you know, so that's it - I just wanted to paint something utterly
different from anything I have ever been known for, and can't
imagine that a watercolour of "Buck House" fails to fill that role!"I
quite like it.:)
See it in this
Collector's Edition book
