Studio RT Ltd

Description

We are pleased to offer for sale this large and beautifully executed coastal watercolour by the Bradford artist Elliott H. Marten, who has signed the painting in the lower right hand corner. The painting depicts a coastal scene, with the mist rolling up from the sea and partially obscuring the chalk cliff to the right. The painting is obviously executed from the top of chalk cliffs, with a wooden fence with a stile and a path leading from it. There are a couple of sheep grazing, protected by the fence from the cliff edge.

We have found paintings by this artist in the Sussex area, including one of the chalk cliffs near Rottingdean, so there is a possibility that the location is somewhere on the Sussex coast, as he has painted many watercolours of this area.

Elliott Haigh Marten, please note that this is his correct middle name as he is constantly called Elliot Henry, was born in Calverley, Bradford, Yorkshire in 1866, the son of William Haigh Marten and his wife Martha Maria. He was living in Bradford until the Census of 1881 and he exhibited at the Yorkshire Union of Artists in 1888, after marrying in Bradford in 1887. By 1890 he was advertising his Academy of Painting at 59 High Street, Chelmsford, Essex, where he was listed as Art Master and Medallist S. Kensington, presumably the Royal Academy Schools in South Kensington, although we have been unable to confirm this. In 1901, he was living at 26 Mersham Road, Croydon, living on his own account as an artist. We have not yet been able to confirm the year of his death, but are doing further research.

Although a prolific watercolourist, he exhibited very little. According to the Dictionary of British Artists (Collectors' Club), he exhibited 1 painting entitled 'Autumn Leaves' at the Royal Academy in 1886 from an address in Hawick in North Britain (confirmed by Graves Dictionary) and 5 at the Dudley gallery. He is also listed in the Dictionary of Victorian Painters by Christopher Wood, The Dictionary of British Watercolour Artists by H. Mallalieu, the Dictionary of Scottish Painters and the Yorkshire Union of Artists by Dennis Child. Although he painted all over the country, his favourite locations were Scotland, the Lake District and Sussex. His auction records can be found at the usual sites, over 150 listings on artprice.com.

The painted has been newly double mounted in two tone acid-free mountboard to complement and is framed in an ornate 1 3/8" gilt frame. It will be supplied wired and ready to hang.

Image size: 18 3/4" x 13 1/8" - 47.7cm x 33.3cm

Frame size: 26 3/8" x 20 3/8" - 67cm x 51.8cm

Medium: Watercolours

Condition: Excellent. The colours true and with no foxing. The mounts are new and the frame is in excellent condition.