.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This and the following three lots (lots 213-215) were all executed by Knight at Wyresdale Park, Lancashire.
Spanning 6,000 acres of land near Preston, Lancashire, the estate was first created by Peter Ormrod (1796-1875), who built the Gothic Revival 'Wyresdale Hall' in 1856 having acquired the land from the Duke of Hamilton. By 1895, the estate had been inherited by Captain Peter Ormrod. He oversaw major improvements, with the creation of a lake, the introduction of a deer park, and the formation of a trout fishery. He married Gertrude 'Gertie' Lyon in 1895, and together they had four children, all depicted in the present watercolour. From left to right they were Peter 'Guy' (1901-1954), Oliver (1909-1986), Joan (1903-?) and Marjory (1900-?).
Laura Knight visited Wyresdale with her husband Harold for a month in the first half of the 1910's. They had been invited by Captain Ormrod so that Harold could paint a portrait of him and Gertie. Whilst the commission was underway, Laura spent her time painting the 'grounds, the byres, the fells' (L. Knight, Oil Paint and Grease Paint, London, 1936, p. 194). This watercolour of the Ormrod children, and that of the fountain (see lot 213) both relate to a large watercolour titled 'The Morning Ride', which Knight would exhibit at the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh and the Royal Watercolour Society, London in 1914 (fig. 1, offered Christie's, London, 16 December 2009, lot 3).
By Knight's own admission, very few of her studies and watercolours of Wyresdale Park survived, and so this group of watercolours offer a unique view of the her stay with the Ormrod Family.
Spanning 6,000 acres of land near Preston, Lancashire, the estate was first created by Peter Ormrod (1796-1875), who built the Gothic Revival 'Wyresdale Hall' in 1856 having acquired the land from the Duke of Hamilton. By 1895, the estate had been inherited by Captain Peter Ormrod. He oversaw major improvements, with the creation of a lake, the introduction of a deer park, and the formation of a trout fishery. He married Gertrude 'Gertie' Lyon in 1895, and together they had four children, all depicted in the present watercolour. From left to right they were Peter 'Guy' (1901-1954), Oliver (1909-1986), Joan (1903-?) and Marjory (1900-?).
Laura Knight visited Wyresdale with her husband Harold for a month in the first half of the 1910's. They had been invited by Captain Ormrod so that Harold could paint a portrait of him and Gertie. Whilst the commission was underway, Laura spent her time painting the 'grounds, the byres, the fells' (L. Knight, Oil Paint and Grease Paint, London, 1936, p. 194). This watercolour of the Ormrod children, and that of the fountain (see lot 213) both relate to a large watercolour titled 'The Morning Ride', which Knight would exhibit at the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh and the Royal Watercolour Society, London in 1914 (fig. 1, offered Christie's, London, 16 December 2009, lot 3).
By Knight's own admission, very few of her studies and watercolours of Wyresdale Park survived, and so this group of watercolours offer a unique view of the her stay with the Ormrod Family.