Forward British 19th C, except portraits, Yorkshire, The Humber and North East England: Artists and Subjects 9 comments Who painted Bubwith Farm, Knottingley Road, Pontefract?
Photo credit: Wakefield Museums & Castles
This is signed and dated bottom left ‘G A [unintelligible] / 1882’.
I wondered if it could be George A. Boyle (https://tinyurl.com/5baytwjp) but I think the surname might have more letters than 'Boyle'.
The Collections Coordinator has replied: ‘I have checked our paper records and database for you and unfortunately we don’t have any note of the artist’s name. The painting itself has nothing written on the back, and nothing on the back of the frame either. The signature looks more likely to be ‘G.A.B.’ in person – but I couldn’t say for absolute certain, especially given how textured the paint is. I took some photos but they’re no clearer than the one on the Art UK page, so this might be as close as we can get.’
Can anyone suggest who might have painted this, perhaps a local artist?
Bubwith Farm became derelict and was demolished c.1965–1975 to make way for road widening. https://tinyurl.com/5t4jjr7b
Andrew Shore, Entry reviewed by Art UK
9 comments
Detail images of the signature are attached.
This looks like amateur work, unlikely to be by known artist.
If the signature is composed of the artist's initials G.A., followed by some place-name word, such as Knottingely, it could be an amateur work by George Adlam, who occupied Bubwith Farm in the mid 1880s and early 1890s.
And that is assuming that the two initial letters are G. A. and not C. A., as looks more likely on Marion's two attachments.
Yes, C.A. appears more likely, and the painter was virtually certainly an amateur. Thus, an identification seems rather improbable, unless someone local has relevant information.
I wonder if the picture was done after a photograph.
Perhaps the artist was Charles Anthony Pickering (5 April 1865-29 November 1949). The surname seems to start with the uppercase letter P and end with the lowercase letter g. It also includes a lowercase letter k.
Charles was the son of a hairdresser and became a hairdresser himself. The Pickering family were living in Pontefract at the time of the 1881 Census.
The 1911 Census shows Charles living with his wife Charlotte and their four children in Ripon.
Unfortunately, his signature is in cursive script on that document. He seems to have always used his middle name (or initial) when completing official documents.
I think it highly unlikely we will identify the amateur artist of this painting in the time left to us, despite the (frustratingly illegible) signature.