Cecil Gordon Lawson (1851-1882)
Cecil Gordon Lawson (1851-1882)

Cheyne Walk and Chelsea Old Church by Battersea Old Bridge

Details
Cecil Gordon Lawson (1851-1882)
Cheyne Walk and Chelsea Old Church by Battersea Old Bridge
oil on canvas
9 x 17 in. (24.7 x 44.5 cm.)
Sale room notice
Please note that the artist lived in Cheyne Walk, next to Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and exhibited several views of Chelsea and Battersea at the Royal Academy between 1870 and 1879.

Lot Essay

Cheyne Walk takes its name from the Cheyne family who were lords of the manor of Chelsea from 1660 to 1712. Cheyne Walk extends from Albert Bridge to Cremorne Road and contains many beautiful Queen Anne houses. In 1862 Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Algernon Swinburne and George Meredith took no. 16 Cheyne Walk. Rossetti kept a small zoo, including many peacocks who were so distressingly noisy that subsequent Cadogan leases include a clause prohibiting the keeping of these birds. The house became a meeting place for poets and artists during the years 1871-81.
Cecil Gordon Lawson (1851-1882) was born in Shropshire to Scottish parents. In 1861 he came to London with his father William Lawson who was a portrait painter. Cecil Gordon exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1869 and 1882, as well as at Suffolk Street and the Grosvenor Galleries. It was at the opening of the Grosvenor Galleries that he achieved his first notable success with a painting entitled The Minister's Garden. He was considered by many contemporary critics to be one of the finest landscape painters of his generation. However, his promising career was cut short by his early death at the age of 31.

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