St Agnes Beacon

St Agnes Beacon and Carn Euny (lot 116) were acquired directly from Lanyon by Glaswegian art dealer Cyril Gerber, and remained in his personal collection throughout his life. Gerber made a unique contribution to the visual arts in Scotland. He was one of the founders of the New Charing Cross Gallery in 1963, and in 1969, he and his wife Betty set up the Compass Gallery in Glasgow. The gallery was renowned for its support of talented new graduates, and was responsible for bringing a huge range of artists to a Scottish audience. Alongside this, he opened Cyril Gerber Fine Art in 1983, which focused on 20th Century British artists, from the Glasgow School, the Scottish Colourists, the Bloomsbury Group and the St Ives School.

St Agnes Beacon, on the north coast of Cornwall, is a remnant of the vibrant heathland that used to cover much of the county. S.H. Burton wrote of it in 1955: ‘The view from St Agnes Beacon is breath-taking. The high moorlands, heather and gorse clad; steep valleys and bubbling streams; the bracing winds and the infinite variety of land and seascape’ (S.H. Burton, The Coasts of Cornwall, London, 1955). The area was mined extensively for copper and tin until the 1930s, and this history remains visible in the terrain.