Rowley Gallery Blog
This marquetry panel was designed by William Arthur Chase and made by The Rowley Gallery, circa 1920. It looks like the wood inlay is pine, sycamore, perhaps cedar, and oak-burr for the hair. It is titled Dancer With Cymbals and by its size and the way it is framed you’d be forgiven for thinking it might actually be a tambourine. It was recently discovered at auction and very kindly returned to its maker courtesy of the good folks at JHW Fine Art. Thank you, James.
Jazmin Velasco brought us these gouache portrait paintings of some of her Georgian heros and heroines. She’s framed them in pressed metal frames from Mexico, frames more often used for painted votive offerings to the saints (see also Mexican Miracle Paintings). Reading left to right and top to bottom they are Duke of Wellington; George Frideric Handel; Queen Charlotte; Georgina, Duchess of Devonshire; Lord Nelson and King George III. They would make very good miniature pub signs for very good miniature pubs. Here’s a link to what Jazmin wrote when she painted them.
I’d been curious about the Swan Hotel at Radcot for years, ever since we framed this memorable painting. In fact it doesn’t look much like its portrait at all, but it’s a good place to start from and a welcome spot for a riverside drink upon the return. This walk was inspired by a chance meeting two years ago at Jazmin Velasco’s house with Ron Emmons, author of Walks Along The Thames Path. I arrived just as they were about set off on the Richmond walk. In his description of this Radcot & Kelmscot walk, Ron says ‘This is a walk for when you really want to get away from it all’. Though there’s no escaping the jubiquitous Union Jack these days. Continue reading “Radcot & Kelmscot”
A folding map of the City of London, published in 1900 by the cartographer G W Bacon & Co. We framed it with an elegant oak moulding and a French mount of acid-free boards. Continue reading “A Symmetrical Frame”
With the Olympic Games coming to town Greg Becker has been researching the often eccentric beginnings of many of the modern games that we know today. His findings are documented in these drawings which have now been published as greetings cards. Continue reading “Sporting Feats”
I ventured up to Sotheby’s, New Bond Street, to see a version of The Scream by Edvard Munch (1863-1944). The version consigned to the saleroom and auction next month in New York is a pastel drawing by the artist. The image of The Scream is reckoned to be only second to that of the Mona Lisa in terms of art awareness in the general public conscience, and is regarded as the archetypal image of angst and anxiety of modern man. Continue reading “The Scream”
Spring Blossoms Umbria 2011 was started last year after visiting Orvieto again. A fine meal at L’Etrusca followed by a long walk into the fields surrounding Orvieto kick-started this one. In some ways it is a little different to the others in that it has a sense of being “in” the landscape as opposed to looking at a place from a distance. Looking through trees onto fields has created interesting tensions between flatness, illusion, realism, abstraction, pattern and surface. Although I will continue to make paintings of places there is something very interesting happening in Spring Blossoms Umbria. Continue reading “Spring Blossoms Umbria”
See more by Jonny Hannah at The Rowley Gallery.
This is The Rowley Gallery in 1933. Business must have been good. It had expanded from a single shop at 140 to double the size at 140-142 Church Street, and the facade had been rebuilt featuring a carved frieze by Frank Brangwyn depicting life size sawyers, painters and carpenters. Continue reading “Brangwyn’s Frieze”