A particularly attractive signed oil on canvas by Mary J. Jones, née Poulter, depicting boats at Cassis on the Mediterranean coast of southern France. Rich in colour and atmosphere, the work also retains unusually strong documentary evidence linking Mary directly with the wider Yarrow-Jones studio world.
Details
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Artist: Mary J. Jones, née Poulter
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Title: Bateaux, Cassis
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Medium: Oil on canvas
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Signature: Signed lower left
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Artwork size: 37.5 × 44 cm (14.8 × 17.3 in), height × width
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Framed size: 45 × 52 cm (17.7 × 20.5 in), height × width
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Presentation: Framed
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Provenance: Acquired from a family descendant.
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Condition: Artwork in very good vintage condition. Frame in very good condition.
Verso and Studio History
The reverse retains an original handwritten title label inscribed “Bateaux. Cassis.” and a second label reading “Mary J. Jones, Collingwood Place, Camberley, Surrey, Angleterre.”
The stretcher also carries earlier inscriptions relating to Ernest Yarrow-Jones (1872-1951), including his Paris address at 65 Boulevard Arago, the title “Les Murs à l’Ombre”, and a price of 650 francs.
These inscriptions indicate reuse of material from the Yarrow-Jones studio. Examination of the reverse suggests that the visible staining and image shadows do not correspond exactly with the present composition, raising the possibility of an earlier composition beneath Mary’s painting. This remains unconfirmed without technical imaging.
Subject and Context
Cassis, on the Mediterranean coast east of Marseille, attracted artists for its harbour, fishing boats, brilliant southern light and dramatic surrounding landscape. In Bateaux, Cassis, Mary J. Jones focuses on the harbour and boats in a lively Mediterranean composition with strong colour and atmosphere.
About the Artist
Mary J. Jones, born Mary Poulter, was a British painter from an Arts and Crafts family. She was the daughter of Harry George Poulter and sister of architects Harry Reginald Poulter and Briant Alfred Poulter. She married the artist Ernest Yarrow-Jones in the early twentieth century and shared an artistic life connected with Hythe, Paris and southern France.
Mary painted in her own right, although her surviving oeuvre is sparsely documented. Signed and labelled works such as Bateaux, Cassis are therefore particularly valuable evidence of her independent artistic activity. The painting’s original title and address labels, together with the surviving Yarrow-Jones studio inscriptions on the stretcher, give it unusually strong primary-source documentation.
