Studio RT Ltd

Description

We are offering for sale this lovely oil on artists board of Lindisfarne Castle, Holy Island, Northumberland, which is indistinctly signed in the lower right hand corner and entitled verso 'Holy Island Castle' in pencil, although this may not be by the artist's hand. We are cautiously attributing this to the artist William A. Thornbery, 1848-c.1906-10. This artist uses a multitude of spellings and pseudonyms and can be known as W. A. Thornbury, H. Thornley and William Thornley, by which name he is mostly listed on auction sites. However, we can find no trace of an artist called H. Thornley or William Thornley and we know that the spelling is Thornbery, as the 1911 census record was written in her own hand by his widow Eleanor.

W. A. Thornbery (Thornbury) is listed in The Dictionary of British Artists and exhibited between 1883-1906, 19 paintings at the RHA, 3 at the RHA, 3 at the RBA and 22 at the Royal Society of Artists Birmingham.

The painting depicts the coast below the castle, at sunset, with fishermen retarring their fishing boats on the beach. There are two fires visible for melting the tar. We know that the artist painted Lindisfarne castle, as we have seen another of his paintings, which is a view from the other side of the causeway and he painted many small paintings in similar tones, with a favourite being St. Michael's Mount.

The painting is executed on Winsor and Newton Academy board, which we have dated to 1882-1903, by the royal warrants shown.

The painting has been newly framed in a 2 3/4" gilt frame and will be supplied wired and ready to hang.

Image size 11 3/8" x 8 3/8" - 29.5cm x 21.25cm

Frame size 17" x 13 3/4" - 43cm x 34.9cm

Medium Oils on Winsor and Newton Academy Board

Condition Very good. There is some craquelure consistent with age, principally in the orange part of the sky just above the land to the left. The surface is clean and there is no paint loss. The frame is new.