Studio RT Ltd

Description

This painting is a very well executed watercolour by the artist A. D. BELL, who has signed the painting in the lower right hand corner and dated it 1954. The painting depicts a group of Brixham trawlers in the harbour, with their colourful sails and a couple of rowing boats. There are two figures wearing caps on the quay. On the back of the backing board is the inscription from the previous mount that states 'Brixham Trawlers A. D. Bell'.

To quote from Jeremy Wood's excellent book 'Hidden Talents' on A.D.Bell

'At least two different artists painted under the pseudonym of A. D. Bell, mostly in the inter war years, for Arthur Joseph, a dealer from Brierley Hill, Birmingham. The most prolific was Wilfred Knox who specialised in portraits of clipper ships, harbours, coastal scenes and some landscapes. Some of the pictures are dated with an earlier (pre-war) date and when the works are found in the original frame often have a fictitious biography of the artist printed on the reverse.

The other artist working under this pseudonym was Horace Hammond, a Birmingham landscape painter, whose watercolour landscapes were in the style of Birket Foster. These are also signed J. Barclay and often feature figures and animals outside cottages. There may have been a third artist who used the psuedonym A. D. Bell, as some of the work is unlike the style of either Hammond or Knox, but this has not been substantiated.'

It is our opinion that this painting is by the third artist, as the work is more detailed and less loose than that of Knox and not at all like the work of Hammond, or indeed, his subject matter. It is possible that this might be a work by Knox, using a different signature, but we have handled several of his marine paintings signed A. D. Bell, and the signature is much larger, slopes to the left and is unlike this one.

The painting is double mounted with wash lines in two tone to complement and is framed in a 7/8" gilt frame. It is ready to hang.

Medium Watercolours