Study above: Wolverhampton, St Leonard’s Abbey, Nr Tours (W336) 75.5x61cm, pen and wash drawing, monogram b.r., Brangwyn gift, April 1931. Ill: Zwanzig Graphische Arbeiten (8) (39×30.5cm); Brangwyn Portfolio, 1927 (91) 36x29cm
Completed etching above
1913
Zinc, 75x60cm
Owners Amsterdam (RP-P-1927-215). Bewdley (1933-31/37(K)) Brangwyn gift, 1933. Brighton (FA207051) Brangwyn gift, 1935. Bruges (0.1166) signed in full in pencil b.r. and inscribed in pencil b.l. ‘Abbey St Leonard – (Ile Blanchard)’ [sic], Brangwyn gift. Brussels (S.III 65700). Buenos Aires (1578). Dundee (BR-121-1939 and 186-1987). Hull (KINCM:2006.12296 (P304), signed in full in pencil b.r., framed by Stiles, Brangwyn gift 1932. Johannesburg (P101). Liverpool (36/19) signed in full in pencil b.r., framed by Stiles, Brangwyn gift, 1936. London BM (1913,0522.34) signed in pencil. Memphis (2016.2.3). Moscow. Providence RISD (81.189) gift of Professor & Mrs A Kossoff. Tokyo (DEP.G 1985-71). Wolverhampton (W337) Brangwyn gift.
:Possibly Orange, Vienna (A)
Related work: London Guildhall, Tours, The Abbey of St Leonard (12420) (D4019), 1912, 55.2×72.4cm, watercolour, inscribed b.l. ‘FB L’ile Bouchard 1912’
Lit: FAS (206). Shaw Sparrow, 1919, p150-151. Architectural Etchings of Frank Brangwyn RA, Westminster: The Architectural Press, 1922, p4. Gaunt, 1926 (215). Galloway, 1933, p30. Marechal, 1987, p223. Wright Christopher, From Victorian to Edwardian, Ferens Art Gallery/Hull Museums, 2009, p232. Horner, 2023, p150-151
Ill: Shaw Sparrow, 1919, facing p80. Architectural Etchings of Frank Brangwyn RA, Westminster: The Architectural Press, 1922. Gaunt, 1926 (215). Lazareva, 1978, plate 87 (titled St Peter’s of the Exchange, Genoa). Marechal, 1987, p223. Wright Christopher, From Victorian to Edwardian, Ferens Art Gallery/Hull Museums, 2009, p232. Horner, 2023, p150-151
Exh: Tokyo, 1918. Vienna, 1922 (164). Queen’s Gate, 1924 (41). Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1925 (75). Northampton, 1926 (75). Hull, 1933 (21). Brighton, 1935 (56). Lincoln, 1954 (96). Moscow, 1967 (29). Hull, 1974 (10). Ditchling, 1980 (25)
Based on a drawing made at the L’île Bouchard, near Tours, of the Abbey which dates back to the tenth century. The abbey was used by a local farmer as a granary and Brangwyn has depicted a rustic fête. Apse of Abbey to right with remains of south aisle to left, together with ladder and group of people. Carousers foreground right.
Wolverhampton Art Gallery Public Minutes Book noted on 27 April 1931 that ‘through the instrumentality’ of M B Walker, Brangwyn had presented the Gallery with both the etching and original drawing for same.
Shaw Sparrow said the work had ‘satirical humour’ and queried whether there was ‘anything more touching than the contrast between the brevity of medieval lives and the astounding endurance of medieval craftsmanship even when great ruins are neglected’.
The etchings reproduced in Shaw Sparrow, 1919, including this one, were supplied by Dawbarn of FAS and Brangwyn warned Willett of the publishing company John Lane not to roll them up since they were ‘now very rare’.
Print Prices Current – sold for £3 13 6d 23/5/19; £3 13 6d 13/2/20; £1 15s 11/5/23
FAS 1914 15 guineas