Studio RT Ltd

Description

We are offering for sale this landscape oil on canvas by the Yorkshire artist James Leenie Adams, who has signed the painting J. L. Adams in the lower left hand corner and dated it 1885. The painting depicts a view of the rolling landscape leading to Beamsley Beacon, which is one of the chain of beacons that would be lit to signal disaster or invasions. A woman carrying a basket is walking along a rutted track past a derelict stone cottage, possible heading for a house further down the hill. The correct name of the hill is Howber Hill, but it is known as Beamsley Beacon. It is located near Beamsley and Bolton Abbey in Yorkshire.

James Leenie Adams was born in Leeds 1847, the son of a carver and gilder also called James Adams. He is listed in the 1871 Census as living at 56 Bedford Place, Leeds with his family and his occupation is given as Artist. In the1881 Census he is listed as a Landscape painter/artist living with his two sisters at 4 Carlton Mount Leeds. He married his wife Gertrude Sarratt in 1883 in Leeds and by 1891 was living with her and his four children at 207 Kensington Street, Manningham, Bradford, with his occupation given as Lithographic Designer. By 1901 he had moved to 335 Kensington Street, but, sadly, died later that year at the age of 53.

He exhibited between 1874 and 1890 and possibly found it impossible to maintain a wife and four children on what he could earn as an artist, hence his change of occupation. He exhibited at The Royal Academy, another London exhibition and The Royal Society of British Artists.

He is listed in The Dictionary of British Artists (Collectors' Club), The Dictionary of Victorian Painters by Christopher Wood and Painters in the Northern Counties of England and Wales by Dennis Child.

James Adams' work does not come to the market very often, but there a few auction results listed for him at the usual sites. A 24" x 16" oil of Bolton Abbey achieved £750 at Hartley in West Yorkshire in September 2010.

The painting is framed in a 3" gilt frame and linen slip and will be supplied wired and ready to hang.

Image size 23 3/8" x 15 3/8" - 59.45cm x 39.05cm

Frame size 29 3/8" x 21 3/8" - 74.6cm x 54.25cm

Medium Oils on canvas

Condition Good condition. The canvas is clean and taut and there is no craquelure, stretcher marks or paint loss. There has been one repair to the canvas as shown, which is scarcely visible from the front. The frame is in good condition consistent with age.