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拍品專文
The Lawn Tennis Party at Marcus was painted in the summer of 1889 at the home of Melville's friend John Robertson in Angus, which lies between the towns of Brechin and Forfar. Robertson is seen sitting at the tea table under a tree with the Reverend John Herkless who later became Principal of St Andrews University; while Mrs Robertson and Mrs (later Lady) Herkless play tennis gracefully in the foreground. Their dresses shimmer in the sunlight as the trees turn golden and begin to shed their leaves onto the lawns in front of the house.
Melville painted a sketch for The Lawn Tennis Party in 1886 some three years earlier, which was a fully worked up watercolour. However, it is worthwhile looking at the differences between the two versions which in effect allow us to see a work which Melville considered complete alongside one which he looked on essentially as a preparatory study. Both are vivid portrayals of a game of tennis on a sunny autumn day, captured with the instantaneity of a photograph. Melville here is deliberating echoing Lavery's series of watercolour studies for his famous painting The Tennis Party of 1885 (Aberdeen Art Gallery) which share undeniable similarities. Kenneth McConkey has suggested that Melville, along with Guthrie and Walton had been present at Cartbank House near Paisley when Lavery made studies for The Tennis Party.
The Lawn Tennis Party at Marcus portrays 'a straightforward depiction of modern life; a throwback to his Dutch and Barbizon-influenced paintings of 1880' (Iain Gale, Arthur Melville, 1996, pg. 54). Melville's paintings of the 1880s contain the spontaneity and inspiration of the early works of the Glasgow Boys.
The owners of this painting the MacEwen's from the Isle of Muck were related to Arthur Melville through marriage to his wife Ethel.
Melville painted a sketch for The Lawn Tennis Party in 1886 some three years earlier, which was a fully worked up watercolour. However, it is worthwhile looking at the differences between the two versions which in effect allow us to see a work which Melville considered complete alongside one which he looked on essentially as a preparatory study. Both are vivid portrayals of a game of tennis on a sunny autumn day, captured with the instantaneity of a photograph. Melville here is deliberating echoing Lavery's series of watercolour studies for his famous painting The Tennis Party of 1885 (Aberdeen Art Gallery) which share undeniable similarities. Kenneth McConkey has suggested that Melville, along with Guthrie and Walton had been present at Cartbank House near Paisley when Lavery made studies for The Tennis Party.
The Lawn Tennis Party at Marcus portrays 'a straightforward depiction of modern life; a throwback to his Dutch and Barbizon-influenced paintings of 1880' (Iain Gale, Arthur Melville, 1996, pg. 54). Melville's paintings of the 1880s contain the spontaneity and inspiration of the early works of the Glasgow Boys.
The owners of this painting the MacEwen's from the Isle of Muck were related to Arthur Melville through marriage to his wife Ethel.