Lot Essay
Born at Kettering, Northamptonshire, Gotch came from a noncomformist family that had prospered in banking and the local shoemaking trade; his three brothers, an uncle and a cousin all distinguished themselves in scholarship or the arts. He was educated at Kettering Grammar School and worked for three years in his father's business before entering Heatherley's Art School in 1876. He then worked briefly in Antwerp, had a two-year spell at the Slade, and completed his studies in the atelier of J.P. Laurens in Paris. In 1881 he married a former colleague at the Slade, Caroline Yates, who was also studying in Paris, and in 1883 they returned to England with their daughter Phyllis. Having touched down briefly in Newlyn, the Cornish fishing village which was then beginning to attract the attention of artists, they went off to Australia, holding a joint exhibition in Melbourne in March 1884. Back in England, they finally settled at Newlyn in 1887.
They were to live there for the rest of their lives, playing a prominent part in the artistic community. Gotch was a close friend of H.S. Tuke (another former Slade student), and like him and Stanhope Forbes, the leader of the Newlyn School, was a founder-member of the New English Art Club (1886). For some years he worked along traditional Newlyn lines, treating local subjects in a realistic manner owing much to Bastien-Lepage. But a latent interest in abstract ideas and a visit to Florence in 1891-2 pointed him in the direction of symbolism, and he began to produce a series of highly individual works in which themes of childhood and adolescence were seen in terms of the iconographical conventions of early Italian and Flemish art. His first venture in this style was My Crown and Sceptre (1892; Sydney), followed, among others, by A Golden Dream (1893; Preston), Alleluia (1896; Tate), The Awakening (1898; Bristol), A Pageant of Children (1899; Liverpool) and Holy Motherhood (1902; Newcastle). The number of public galleries that bought these pictures testifies to their popularity. They won medals in Paris, Berlin and Chicago, and were the subject of a perceptive article by A.L. Baldry in the Studio in 1898. An important show of Gotch's 'child pictures' was held at Newcastle in 1910.
The present picture dates from the turning-point in Gotch's career since it was painted in Newlyn early in 1891 and exhibited at the Royal Academy that summer, shortly before he made the visit to Florence which had such a dramatic effect on his style. The sitter's husband had already commissioned Gotch to paint a small watercolour portrait of her, which was exhibited at the New Gallery in 1890.
We are grateful to Philip Saunders for his help in preparing this entry. The picture will be no. PC/6 in his forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Gotch's work.
They were to live there for the rest of their lives, playing a prominent part in the artistic community. Gotch was a close friend of H.S. Tuke (another former Slade student), and like him and Stanhope Forbes, the leader of the Newlyn School, was a founder-member of the New English Art Club (1886). For some years he worked along traditional Newlyn lines, treating local subjects in a realistic manner owing much to Bastien-Lepage. But a latent interest in abstract ideas and a visit to Florence in 1891-2 pointed him in the direction of symbolism, and he began to produce a series of highly individual works in which themes of childhood and adolescence were seen in terms of the iconographical conventions of early Italian and Flemish art. His first venture in this style was My Crown and Sceptre (1892; Sydney), followed, among others, by A Golden Dream (1893; Preston), Alleluia (1896; Tate), The Awakening (1898; Bristol), A Pageant of Children (1899; Liverpool) and Holy Motherhood (1902; Newcastle). The number of public galleries that bought these pictures testifies to their popularity. They won medals in Paris, Berlin and Chicago, and were the subject of a perceptive article by A.L. Baldry in the Studio in 1898. An important show of Gotch's 'child pictures' was held at Newcastle in 1910.
The present picture dates from the turning-point in Gotch's career since it was painted in Newlyn early in 1891 and exhibited at the Royal Academy that summer, shortly before he made the visit to Florence which had such a dramatic effect on his style. The sitter's husband had already commissioned Gotch to paint a small watercolour portrait of her, which was exhibited at the New Gallery in 1890.
We are grateful to Philip Saunders for his help in preparing this entry. The picture will be no. PC/6 in his forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Gotch's work.