Sir George Clausen RA RSW RWS HonRBA RI ROI NEAC (1852-1944) - St John's Wood Rooftops, London

Description

An original signed watercolour by Sir George Clausen depicting the rooftops of St John's Wood, north-west London, with the spire of St Mark's Church, Hamilton Terrace, rising above the surrounding buildings.

The composition looks across pitched roofs, chimney stacks and brick buildings in blue-grey, ochre and muted red. Clausen gives the foreground architecture firmer definition, while the more distant buildings are softened by the London atmosphere.

Although best known for his rural paintings, Clausen regularly painted the streets, houses and gardens around his London home. This watercolour relates to the neighbourhood in which he lived for thirty-five years.

Details

• Artist: Sir George Clausen RA RSW RWS HonRBA RI ROI NEAC (1852-1944)
• Title: St John's Wood Rooftops, London
• Medium: Watercolour on paper
• Signature: Signed lower right, G. Clausen
• Artwork dimensions: 27 × 37 cm (10.6 × 14.6 in)
• Framed dimensions: 49 × 58 cm (19.3 × 22.8 in)
• Frame: Glazed gilt frame with wide line-wash mount
• Date: Circa 1910-1940 (estimated)
• Provenance: Private collection
• Condition: The work appears in very good presentable condition. The frame and mount have been recently replaced. Please study all photographs carefully as they form an important part of the condition description.

St John's Wood and Clausen

Clausen lived at 61 Carlton Hill, St John's Wood, from 1905 until 1940. His paintings of the surrounding rooftops, gardens and streets form a distinctive part of his later career.

Among his recorded London subjects are From a London Back Window in Winter, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1910; In the Small Hours (1911); Hamilton Terrace, Autumn Morning (1933); and My Back Garden (1940), acquired for Tate through the Chantrey Bequest.

The present watercolour depicts the same north-west London neighbourhood. Its precise viewpoint has not been independently established, although the spire of St Mark's Church provides a recognisable landmark.

About the Artist

Sir George Clausen RA RSW RWS HonRBA RI ROI NEAC (1852-1944) was a British painter and watercolourist associated with Naturalism and the development of Impressionism in Britain.

Born in London, he studied at the National Art Training School in South Kensington, the Antwerp Academy under Joseph van Lerius, and the Académie Julian in Paris under William-Adolphe Bouguereau and Tony Robert-Fleury. The French naturalist Jules Bastien-Lepage was a particularly important influence.

Clausen was a founding member of the New English Art Club in 1886. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1876, became an Associate in 1895 and was elected a full Royal Academician in 1906. He served as Professor of Painting at the Royal Academy Schools from 1904 to 1906, and was knighted in 1927.

His work was exhibited extensively in Britain and internationally, including at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1889. A major retrospective was held at the Royal Academy in 1980.

Clausen's paintings are represented in public collections including Tate, the Royal Academy of Arts, the Imperial War Museum, Auckland Art Gallery and the Yale Center for British Art.