Studio RT Ltd

Description

We are pleased to offer for sale this beautifully executed watercolour by the artist Norris Fowler Willatt, under his pseudonym L. Van Staaten, under which name he is probably better known, and it is with this name that this painting is signed in the lower right hand corner. The painting depicts a Dutch canal scene, with a Dutch barge moored alongside the side of the canal in front of two cottages, with a windmill just behind them. There is a further windmill to the right . The sky looks blustery with some dark clouds, and, from the colour of the leaves on the trees, the season is Autumn.

'Norris Fowler Willatt (1859-1924) was a watercolour landscape painter who lived at Pyrford, near Woking, Surrey, and specialised in painting Dutch canal and town scenes. A self-taught artist, Norris Fowler Willatt first painted the Dutch scenes under his own name, but soon realised that they sold better with a Dutch pseudonym and thus he adopted 'L. Van Staaten'.

He appeared to have found a ready market for his work and did not exhibit widely, although he did show three watercolours at the Royal Academy under the name of Louis Van Staaten. His first exhibit, from a Wimbledon address, was a view of Dordrecht in 1908 and then he showed two further works in 1913 - another Dordrecht view and 'The Interior of an old Surrey Farmhouse'.

As well as the Dutch scenes Norris Willatt painted some English landscapes and these are usually signed under his own name or sometimes 'Murray Thompson'. These were mostly Surrey landscapes and heath scenes, often featuring a shepherd and sheep. The pictures were usually large in size and the competent style and pleasing subjects have made his work increasingly sought after in recent years.'

The three paragraphs in quotes are taken from Jeremy Wood's excellent book 'Hidden Talents'.

There are a multitude of auction results for works by this artist, unfortunately, some of the auction houses and auction results sites say, incorrectly, that L. Van Staaten is one of the pseudonyms used by Hermanus Koekkoek II, so it is difficult to say exactly how many are, in fact, his. However, there are 106 on artnet.com and 205 on findartinfo.com under L. Van Staaten.

The painting is newly mounted in two tone acid free mountboard mounted and is newly framed in a 1 1/4" silver gilt frame. It will be supplied wired and ready to hang.

Image size: 15" x 11" - 38cm x 28cm

Frame size: 22 1/2" x 18 5/8" - 57.1cm x 47.3cm

Medium: Watercolours

Condition: Very good condition. The mounts and frame are new.