Walter Langley (1852-1922)

The Evening of Life - Interior Portrait.

This stunning, large British Edwardian Newlyn School interior portrait oil painting is by much noted and exhibited artist Walter Langley. Originally from Birmingham, Langley and his family moved to St Ives in 1881. He was one of the first artists to settle and painted the local fishermen and their families. Painted in 1906 and entitled The Evening of Life, the painting is a full length seated portrait of an elderly lady in a cottage interior. She is sat by a table on which she has a bible, jug of flowers and her sewing equipment. Across her lap she has a large patchwork quilt to mend but is lost in thought. In fact the same sitter and quilt can be seen in Memories, also painted in 1906 and in the Ferens Art Gallery, Hull.  Memories includes more of the cottage interior but the sitter's head is bowed towards her hands. The Evening of Life is more vibrant and the sitters face is much more visible as are the lovely colours of the quilt. The painting has fantastic detail, great brushwork and the Newlyn school palette of colours. The provenance is excellent, having been kept in the same family ownership so fresh to market. The painting appeared in the artist's catalogue Raisonne and was also in 1997 biography by Langely's grandson, Roger Langley, entitled Walter Langley: Pioneer of the Newlyn Art Colony. This a superb example of Langley's work, a good size and composition and a pleasure to gaze upon. 
Signed lower left and dated (19)06.

Provenance Ford, 1906 (£63).
                    Long in the previous family ownership and sold by the executors of the estate.
                   Thomas Wood and Sons label verso. 

Literature: Langley (R) - Walter Langley Pioneer of the Newlyn Art Colony 1997, catalogue raisonne p.170 (under 1906).  

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