How the Thames froze in time at Hurley.

If I had to draw my particular treasure map, I would surely sketch the streets at Portobello Road and Golborne Rd markets between Portobello Green Market and Wornington Rd. There I found most of the fabulous pieces of my art collection, turning a few pounds into hundreds every Friday. It took me exactly a year to gather all those pieces. Sadly for me, my last year working in London.

 

The first piece of art in this story is ‘The Thames at Hurley’ (c. 1980), an original watercolour by Michael Vicary. It is signed lower right. This is an early Vicary’s artwork, authenticated and dated by the artist himself in October 2019. The size of the artwork is 37,7 x 26,7 cm. Thankfully, after a light, non-abrasive cleaning, the watercolour is in excellent condition, with bright, unfaded colours.

I acquired this painting, as I said, in the Portobello Rd. market on October 18th 2019. All the stallholders could tell me about the provenance was that it came from emptying a posh big house in Pont Street, London.

The first thing that caught my attention was the feeling of peace and solitude that the place depicted in the watercolour exhaled, and the pictorial effect achieved in the water and the thick vegetation. The painting clearly shows the various flows of water on the Thames - the locks and branches of the river produce such streams - as well as the sound of the trees and the movement of the swans on the water. One can almost feel the smell of spring. The textures of the water are masterfully achieved, as are the reflections of the trees on the river. The texture, more defined in the foreground and diffused in the background, helps to create an effect of depth.

The author himself, Michael Vicary, taught me about his painting: “I painted quite a lot at Hurley from 1980-2010. (…) I can tell from the style of the painting, the dark shadows, that it is an early Vicary. The mount is also of an early design.  My guess would be circa 1980. I don’t think that stretch of the Thames has changed much, though there are usually boats moored on the far bank. (…) The Thames Valley was my main painting area and there aren’t many views that I didn’t attempt at one time or another – that’s from Windsor through Maidenhead (where I lived), Cookham, Marlow, Henley, Reading, Pangbourne to Goring. Hurley is between Marlow and Henley and you can follow the Thames Path all the way for a scenic walk (…)”.

As I mentioned before, months later I had the chance to visit this wonderful spot which is frozen in time, and also connected with the history of this country.

The spot depicted in the watercolour, in February 2020.

The spot depicted in the watercolour is Temple Lock, not too far from Hurley Lock. The landscape was painted from Temple Footbridge, near the north bank of the Thames.

Who is artist Michael Vicary?

 

There is no doubt that Vicary is an interesting artist, very representative of the most recent British landscape painting. The painter himself talks about his artistic career on his website: “I grew up in Maidenhead, Berkshire - close to the River Thames and about 25 miles from London - and lived there most of my life. I moved to Reading in 2014. My parents were both keen painters and encouraged my artistic interests, so it was no surprise that art was my favourite subject at school and I wanted to go to art college.

 

After a foundation course at the old Berkshire College of Art in Maidenhead, I went on to gain a DipAD in Fine Art from the West of England College of Art in Bristol. There followed teacher training in Manchester and three challenging years teaching art in a Lancashire comprehensive school.

 

A sketching tour of France and Italy in 1974 revived my interest in working out-of-doors in watercolour, and on my return to Britain I began painting architectural subjects at Cliveden and other historic houses.

 

This blossomed into a full-time painting career and for more than 30 years I worked as a professional watercolourist. Most of my subjects are landscape and river scenes in the Thames Valley, particularly the stretch of the Thames between Henley and Windsor. But the upper reaches of the Thames and the River Kennet have also been happy hunting grounds.

 

Further afield many months have been spent on Dorset's Jurassic Coast, and there have been fruitful trips to Cumbria and Co. Durham, as well as the Perth, Angus and Kincardine area of Eastern Scotland.

Over the years I have undertaken hundreds of commissions of landscape, buildings, gardens, boats, and even a few cars and animals... but this is one area from which I have now officially retired. No more commissions!

I have always preferred to work on the spot as much as possible and enjoyed the challenge of painting directly and spontaneously. Refinements and finishing touches can be added later in the studio, with the aid of photographs if need be.

 

To keep my hand in during the long winter months, I regularly attended portrait workshops run by Maidenhead Painting Club (www.maidenheadpaintingclub.co.uk). For many years I have also worked with various life drawing groups in Amersham, Henley, Maidenhead, Wokingham and Reading (www.risingsun-artscentre.co.uk). In 2003 I took over as organiser of monthly life drawing sessions in Marlow (www.marlowlifedrawing.weebly.com).

 

In these workshop situations I experimented with watercolour, pastel, acrylic, brush and ink, and pastel pencils, before rediscovering the perfect medium - oil paint! Now many of my recent landscapes include figures and exploit the rich colour and luscious handling of oils.

 

My gallery outlets have mostly been in the Windsor area. Between 1983 and 2005 15 one-man shows were staged at these venues: 

Windsor & Eton Fine Arts (1978-83)

Compton Gallery, Windsor (1983-89)

Century Galleries, Henley (1989-90)

Century Gallery, Datchet (1990-2005)

 

From 2006-2014 J. Manley's of Eton High St. (www.manleygallery.com) handled my views of Windsor and Eton. 

In Dorset the Peter Hedley Gallery, Wareham (www.artgalleriesdorset.co.uk) stocked my Purbeck coastal scenes from 1987 to 2011.

 

I regularly exhibit with Maidenhead Painting Club and Art on the Street, Maidenhead, and have participated in many other local club, school and fundraising shows and events”.

 

The birth of an art collection.

 

Months later, on 6th March 2020, I found at Portobello Road market a new original watercolour with a riverside setting, by an unknown artist with a great talent for the technique. Her name, Susana Coombs, and the watercolour's date, 1969. The artist's details were written in pencil on the back: “Susana Coombs. 1 79, Hadleigh Rd. Leigh on Sea. 1969”. 

Although there is no record of this artist, it is obvious from the result of the watercolour that it was painted by a skilled hand, probably with artistic background. The watercolour depicts a waterside setting, probably the River Stour as it flows through Dedham Vale, an area of outstanding natural beauty. This ancient trading waterway, which crosses almost the entire county boundary between Suffolk and Essex, was the subject of numerous paintings by artist John Constable, including his iconic The Hay Wain.

 

But before I came to this artwork, I found many others pieces. The important thing about that Vicary watercolour is that it further stimulated my interest in British art. It was not the first painting I purchased in Britain, but I can say that it was the watercolour that started my collection, and encouraged me to keep looking for old forgotten treasures hidden among the Portobello Road Market stalls. I started that very same day, during lunchtime, and I was lucky enough to find a second wonderful creation, but I will talk about it another time.

 

Just a week later something really improbable and odd happened, which I will talk about in the next post.