Studio RT Ltd

Description

We are delighted to offer for sale this superb oil on board by the artist SARAH LOUISE KILPACK, who has signed the painting S.L. Kilpack in the lower left hand corner, and inscribed it underneath in ink 'Evening, Tenby Harbour Wales'. The painting depicts a scene at sunset, with the town of Tenby in the background and the fishing fleet in harbour. In the foreground next to the sea wall, a fisherman is putting fish into the basket of a woman. There are fishing nets hanging over the wall.

Sarah Louise Kilpack was born in Covent Garden, London on 15th December 1839. She was the youngest child of Georgina and Thomas Kilpack, a tobacconist, whose family lived above the shop. She draw and played the piano from an early age, and showed great aptitude for both. Her musical ability was such that the fees she earned from playing concerts, enabled her to travel to the country to sketch.

She moved to the Channel Islands in the middle 1860s, where she drew her inspiration from the forces of nature surrounding those islands. Her paintings show an understanding of the tides, winds and waves around the bays and rocky cliffs of the islands and the hard life of the fishermen and islanders.

Two of her paintings were exhibited at the 11th Annual Exhibition of The Society of Women Artists in London and two more were selected for exhibition at the British Institution. In total, she exhibited 58 paintings at the Society of Women Artists' exhibitions.

By the early 1880s she was earning about £500 a year from her prodigious output of paintings, considering she charged an average of 6 guineas each for them. She was a prolific artist.

Sarah never married but continued painting and exhibiting up to her death from cancer on 25th October 1909.

She is listed in The Dictionary of British Artists and Graves Dictionary. Her auction results are available at artprice.com (353 listings), findartinfo.com (167), artnet.com (127) and arcadja.com (121). Her paintings achieve prices into the thousands, and Jersey has even issued a set of stamps featuring her paintings, a set of which will be given free with this painting.

The painting has been framed in a 3 1/2" gilt frame and slip, which suit it very well. It is ready to hang.

Image size: 8 3/8" x 5 3/8" - 21.25cm x 13.7cm

Frame size: 15 3/8" x 12 3/8" - 39cm x 31.4cm

Medium: Oils on board.

Condition: Excellent. The frame is relatively modern with slight repairs to the outside corners, which are not visible from the front.