This page shows a number of artworks in The Wilson’s collection and Friends have created some appraisals of these artworks. A snippet is shown beneath each image; click on the image for the full text.
A Christmas Card? (designed by FL Griggs)
Don’t underestimate Frederick Landseer Griggs (1873-1938). The following description of him is not mine: While Griggs trained initially as an…
An Interior (c. 1910), by Leonard Campbell Taylor
Leonard Campbell Taylor: ‘An Interior’ (c.1910) Photo credit: Cheltenham Borough Council and the Cheltenham Trust’ The Empty Chair An empty…
Charles Gere – The Tennis Party
The Tennis Party was purchased with the help of £5,000 from the newly founded Friends of Cheltenham Art Gallery &…
Enid Seeney – Side plate, cup and saucer
Not long ago I dropped and smashed a saucer. No big deal, although it gave me a momentary pang as…
Everhardus Koster (1817-1892) – Ruins Over the River Birchel at Zutphen
Zutphen is a Dutch city in the province of Guelderland. Until the 18th century the Ijssel, one of Holland’s major…
Francesco Guardi (1712 – 1793) – The Island of San Giorgio in Alga, Venice, Italy
Guardi depicts a very small island completely dominated by a tall church and an even taller campanile. In the foreground,…
Gerrit Dou – Portrait of an Old Lady Singing
This vibrant portrait of an unidentified old lady belongs to the Golden Age of Dutch painting. It was probably painted…
Graham Sutherland – Devastation, House in Wales
Choosing a ‘Favourite’ painting is always difficult – particularly for a Curator who knows the painting collection of which only…
Hugh Gerard Byers – Figure by a River (1990 – 2000)
It feels spooky – it feels strange. Whenever I see this painting I feel compelled to stop and look, and…
In the Open Archive – Wards and Cavendish House
In the Open Archive (formerly knows as the Paper Store) there are three drawers with photos and documents from two…
John Nash in Gloucestershire
John Nash: ‘Gloucestershire Cottage’ © The Cheltenham Trust and Cheltenham Borough Council Wood engravings are often small, sometimes very small.…
John Randall Bratby – Jean
When browsing artworks from The Wilson featured on the Art UK website, one portrait grabbed my attention. The painter is…
Josselin Bodley – A City on a Hill
When walking through the permanent galleries between the more familiar Arts and Crafts and Edward Wilson and Cheltenham local history,…
Leslie Cole – Stirlings in Production (1943)
Leslie Cole (1910-1976) was an artist and art teacher, who deserves to be much better known for his remarkable work…
Malvern Abbey (1892), by Sarah Paxton Ball Dodson
‘Malvern Abbey’ by Sarah Paxton Ball Dodson. Photo credit: Cheltenham Borough Council and the Cheltenham Trust Malvern Abbey (strictly speaking,…
Melting Snow – Alfred Henry Robinson Thornton
Probably painted around 1920 and given to The Wilson by its artist Alfred Henry Robinson Thornton (1863-1939) in 1923, Melting…
Michael Ayrton – The Field Roller (1948)
Field rollers: essential, heavy-duty farm equipment. They break down clods of earth after ploughing, embed the scattered seed and make…
Not The Mayoress
While preparing a talk last month on ‘Portraits from The Wilson’s Collections’, I’d been keeping in mind Kenneth Clarke’s definition…
Paul Nash – St. Pancras, London (1927)
Paul Nash and the view from Queen Alexandra Mansions Margaret Odeh, an old girl of Cheltenham Ladies College, was a…
The portrait of Dr Edward Thomas Wilson (1832-1918)
This portrait, painted in 1913, is a study in brown against which the head and hands of the sitter stand…
Theodore von Holst – Gustav von Holst and his brother Theodore (mid 1830s)
This portrait of Holst’s grandfather, Gustavus (seated) is also a self-portrait of his great uncle, Theodore von Holst (1810-1844), an…
Vanessa Bell – Window, Still Life
Still Life, Strange Lives: On a Painting by Vanessa Bell A painting purchased some years ago with the help of…
William Rothenstein – The Storm or Iles Farm, Far Oakridge (1915)
The Storm by William Rothenstein is one of my favourite paintings. Apart from the importance to the collections a personal…