William Langley fl.1890-1920 Beach/Coastal Oil

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We are delighted to offer for sale this lovely evocative oil on canvas by the artist WILLIAM LANGLEY, who has signed the painting in the lower right hand corner. The painting depicts a coastal scene with a small inlet, sand dunes on the beach and seagulls wheeling overhead. There is a larger bay beyond, with the headland in the distance. Unfortunately, we do not know the location.

WILLIAM LANGLEY, who flourished in the late 19th and early 20th century, was a prolific landscape painter, primarily in oil, who specialised in coastal beach scenes, highland scenes usually with cattle and rural landscapes. Surprisingly, for such a prolific painter, little is known about his life, which leads us to the conclusion that his name is a pseudonym. He is frequently confused with the West Country artist Walter Langley and the dates given for him are often the same i.e. 1852-1922. However, this is incorrect. We have also seen it put forward that this is one of the pseudonyms used by Daniel Sherrin, but we cannot confirm this.

The fact that our reference books do not list this artist also points to it being a pseudonym or that he did not exhibit his work, but we have found one written biography in Jeremy Wood's excellent book 'Hidden Talents', which we quote below

'Painter in oil of rural landscapes and coastal scenes who was working in the early 1900s. The subjects of this prolific artist included views in Cornwall, the South of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Among the titles of known works are 'On the Lledr', 'Wee Bridge, Killarney', 'In the Glen', and 'Sunshine after Rain, a Village in the Thames'. The work shows a distinct simarity to that of several artists working at the time and the signature could possibly be a pseudonym. The pictures are often large and decorative and have become increasingly popular in recent years.'

A similar scene of the same size as this achieved £600 at Charterhouse Auctioneers in 2008 and another reached £550 at Christie's in 2005. A 30" x 20" of a coastal scene with sand dunes achieved £850 at Cheffins of Cambridge in 2010.

Auction results achieved for works by this artist may be found at artprice.com (465 listings), artnet.com (201), findartinfo.com (198) and arcadja.com (272 including the works of Walter Langley).

The painting is newly framed in a 3 1/2" gilt frame with slip and is ready to hang.

Medium Oils on Windsor & Newton canvas.

PriceSOLD DimensionsImage size 23 1/2" x 15 1/2" 59.65cm x 39.35cm Frame size 30 1/2" x 22 1/2" 77.5cm x 57.1cm Category Antique Pictures / Engravings / Art > Antique Oil Paintings Date 1890-1910 Late Victorian Late Victorian Antiques Material Oil Painting on Canvas Origin English Artist William Langley Condition Very good. The canvas is clean and taut and has no repairs. There is some craquelure and stretcher marks commensurate with age. The frame is new. Item code as237a218 Status Sold

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