Completed British 19th C, except portraits, British 20th C, except portraits, South East England: Artists and Subjects 13 comments Can we confirm this as a view of the North Foreland from the beach at Stone Bay in Kent?
Photo credit: Chesterfield Museum & Art Gallery
This is a view of the North Foreland, Thanet taken from the beach at Stone Bay, just north of Broadstairs Harbour. Having just walked along the beach at Stone Bay and around the estate above the cliff, I do not think that the house is North Foreland Manor which is further from the cliff, but a smaller house in late 'Arts and Crafts' style, of which there are several there.
Martin Hopkinson, Entry reviewed by Art UK
Completed, Outcome
This discussion is now closed. A note has been added to the artwork description ‘This is a view of the North Foreland at Thanet in Kent. The artist's view of his subject is from Stone Bay, a little to the north of the town of Broadstairs’. The date of work has been changed to ‘after 1920’ to reflect the artist’s move south to London. A biographical note will be prepared and appropriately credited tomorrow from Janet Murphy’s article and the information provided by the Collection to be reviewed with the Editorial team and then incorporated on to the Art UK site.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the discussion. To anyone viewing this discussion for the first time, please see below for all the comments that led to this conclusion.
12 comments
The Collection has commented: ‘Unfortunately we have no information about the location shown in this painting. Joseph Syddall often didn’t even give a name to his paintings. We think that the person who commented is possibly right in identifying this. It would be nice to see if other people agree.’
There is an interesting article, which may be found online, about Joseph Syddall by Janet Murphy, published by The Friends of Bushey Museum. What I gleaned from it is that this Chesterfield artist moved to Hampstead in 1920 to live with his friend, Annea Spong, whom he had met while a student at Bushey. As may be seen from the details of the Syddall collection at Chesterfield Museum & Art Gallery the paintings were bequeathed by her. My conjecture is that the painting under discussion is likely to be from 1920 or later, given the proximity of Broadstairs to North London. I think it would help this discussion if another local resident of Thanet could assist in the verification of the North Foreland location of this painting.
The North Foreland Estate was in the process of development . The beach starts just north of Broadstairs Harbour and Buchan's famous 39 Steps are at the far end of Stone Bay.
The lighthouse cannot be seen as it is some way from the cliffs
Geograph has several photos from a similar viewpoint, of which the clearest is https://www.geograph.org.uk/browser/#!/grid_reference+"TR4068"/image=2705617
The painting might be based on sketches from various parts of the beach. It is hard to imagine seeing - from the same place at the same time - the beach rocks being exposed while the tide is right up to the cliffs and the house that close to the headland.
Malcolm, as ever the AD software seem to be struggling with a slightly complex link - your original doesn't have any brackets (the usual isse), but perhaps it doesn't like the per cent symbols, who knows? Use the Bitly workaround, as I suggest people do for all their links: https://bit.ly/2REK8YP
On the basis of the link in Osmund's post, and on Martin's introductory statement following his walk along the beach at Stone Bay, the identification as a view of the North Foreland seems convincing. This is in reponse to the discussion question, "Can we confirm this as a view of the North Foreland from the beach at Stone Bay in Kent?"
Time to close this discussion if we cannot take it further?
I agree with Jacob that there is very little further we can add to this discussion. However, I see that there is no biography for Joseph Syddall (1864–1942). Is this something Pieter would be willing to take on so that it can be added to the Art UK record in due time? The collection has added some detail to the description and there is further biographical information available online. Subject to that I am happy to recommend closure.
In this case I suggest that Art UK has enough in Janet Murphy's piece in the Journal of the Friends of Bushey Museum to extract (and credit to her) as much of a brief CV for Sydall as it sees fit.
This is the direct download link:
http://www.cadlhs.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/syddall.pdf
It was published in 2019, but the specific issue is not apparent on-line.
Pieter, thank you. That seems to be the most sensible course. I'll recommend closure of this discussion shortly.
The discussion has found that the painting titled 'The Headland' is indeed a view of the North Foreland at Thanet in Kent. The artist's view of his subject is from Stone Bay, a little to the north of the town of Broadstairs.
At present Art UK does not hold a biography of the artist Joseph Syddall (1864-1942). There is an excellent piece on this artist in the Journal of The Friends of Bushey Museum which Art UK may wish to refer to, subject as Pieter van der Merwe notes in his comment of today (as above) to appropriate credit to the author of the article, Janet Murphy.
I now recommend closure of this discussion.
Grant, I have presented your Group Leader recommendation to the Collection for their approval. Regards, David
The Collection have commented: 'That’s great that the location of Syddall’s painting has been confirmed. Certainly update the details on the website. We have an article about Joseph on our website (https://www.chesterfield.gov.uk/explore-chesterfield/museum/our-collection/person-of-the-week/joseph-syddall-1864-1942.aspx) which you could use or maybe do a link to but referencing Janet’s article would be fine too. Janet is a local historian and is well known to us at the museum. Thanks so much for your help with this. I will update the object’s records at the museum as well.'