Studio RT Ltd

Description

We are delighted to offer this lovely watercolour by the renowned artist Hector Caffieri, who has signed the painting in the lower right hand corner. The painting depicts a group of fisher women gathering shell fish from the rocks and rock pools. The artist has captured the woman in the foreground by detailing her face and figure, while the remainder of the women are executed with less detail and softer tones. This painting is one of his typical local watercolours of local fisher folk and port scenes, whilst living in Boulogne-sur-mer, France, in the period 1900-1920.

Hector Caffieri was born at 3 Portland Place, Cheltenham in 1847, the son of Hector St. Cyr Caffieri, a prosperous wine merchant. (In 1986, a blue plaque was erected in Cheltenham to mark the place of his birth, although the house no longer exists.)

He studied under Leon Bonnat and J. Lefebvre, before moving to London. According to the 1881 Census, he was a boarder at the home of a professor of music and his family at 75 Haverstock Hill, London. (Interestingly, on this census record, he stated that his disability was short-sightedness, unusual for an artist.) He moved to Cookham Berkshire for a short while in 1887, before returning to London and then moving to Boulogne-sur-mer, where he apparently made his home for the rest of life. He somehow managed to evade the other census records and, although there is a record of his birth, there is none for his death, so we must assume that it was in France in January 1932 at the age of 85.

He exhibited from 1869 in London, at the Royal Academy from 1875 and at the Salon des Artistes Francais in 1892 and 1893 and widely in the provinces. There was an exhibition of his work at the Dore Gallery on February 27th, 1904 entitled 'Summer Time on the Upper Thames at Marlow'.

He was elected a Member of the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) in 1876, of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours in 1885 (RI) and of the Royal Oil Painters Institute in 1894 (ROI). although he resigned from the RI in 1920.

He is well listed in all the major artists' directories, including The Dictionary of British Artists (Collectors' Club), The Dictionary of Victorian Painters by Christopher Wood, The Dictionary of British Artists by Grant M. Waters and British Watercolour Artists by Mallalieu.

He painted in both oils and watercolours, although principally known as a watercolourist and apart from his French fisher scenes, he was accomplisted in landscape, river scenes and still life.

There are 3 of his paintings in the National Collection which can be view at BBC - Your Paintings. 1 at the Royal Institution of Cornwall, 1 in Sunderland Museum and 1 in the Lytham Art Collection in Lancashire. These are all oils, which reflects that watercolours are undervalued.

There are many listings for his work at the usual sites, with his paintings universally achieving high prices.

The painting is double mounted with wash lines and is framed in a 1 3/8" mottled gilt frame. It will be supplied wired and ready to hang.

Image size 20 3/4" x 14" - 52.7cm x 35.5cm

Frame size 30" x 23" - 76.2cm x 58.4cm

Medium Watercolours on paper

Condition Very very good. There is no foxing or damage. The mounts and frame are in very good condition.