Details
Arthur Hughes (1832-1915)
The Gardens at Penkill with Alice Boyd walking her Dog, Ogier
signed Arthur Hughes, Sept. 1886,
oil on artists board
10 x 14in. (25.4 x 35.5cm)
As fellow members of the Pre-Raphaelite circle Hughes and Bell Scott were in touch for many years, although they only seem to have become intimate in 1886 when Scott recommended Hughes for the examination board at South Kensington. By then Scott was confined to Penkill with heart disease, and during the four years of life that remained to him Hughes visited the castle twice. The first visit, which lasted from 11 September to 8 October 1886, was timed to coincide with Scott's seventy-fifth birthday on 12 September. The second took place in October 1887 and during it Scott suffered a severe attack of angina, the start of what was to prove a year of consistent ill health. When Scott died on 22 November 1890, Hughes immediately went North to attend his funeral in Old Dailly churchyard five days later; and he remained at Penkill until 1 December, designing his gravestone. He was to pay three further visits, in 1891, 1893 and 1894, each coinciding with the anniversary of Scott's death, and he and Miss Boyd corresponded until her own death in April 1897. For a full account of the friendship, see William E. Fredeman, 'A Pre-Raphaelite Gazette: The Penkill Letters of Arthur Hughes & William Bell Scott and Alice Boyd, 1886-97', Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 49, 1966-7, pp323-62; 50, 1967-8, pp.34-82.
The present picture was painted during Hughes' first visit to Penkill, in September 1886, when he also painted Scott's portrait, Lot No. 167
The Gardens at Penkill with Alice Boyd walking her Dog, Ogier
signed Arthur Hughes, Sept. 1886,
oil on artists board
10 x 14in. (25.4 x 35.5cm)
As fellow members of the Pre-Raphaelite circle Hughes and Bell Scott were in touch for many years, although they only seem to have become intimate in 1886 when Scott recommended Hughes for the examination board at South Kensington. By then Scott was confined to Penkill with heart disease, and during the four years of life that remained to him Hughes visited the castle twice. The first visit, which lasted from 11 September to 8 October 1886, was timed to coincide with Scott's seventy-fifth birthday on 12 September. The second took place in October 1887 and during it Scott suffered a severe attack of angina, the start of what was to prove a year of consistent ill health. When Scott died on 22 November 1890, Hughes immediately went North to attend his funeral in Old Dailly churchyard five days later; and he remained at Penkill until 1 December, designing his gravestone. He was to pay three further visits, in 1891, 1893 and 1894, each coinciding with the anniversary of Scott's death, and he and Miss Boyd corresponded until her own death in April 1897. For a full account of the friendship, see William E. Fredeman, 'A Pre-Raphaelite Gazette: The Penkill Letters of Arthur Hughes & William Bell Scott and Alice Boyd, 1886-97', Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 49, 1966-7, pp323-62; 50, 1967-8, pp.34-82.
The present picture was painted during Hughes' first visit to Penkill, in September 1886, when he also painted Scott's portrait, Lot No. 167