I inherited these four watercolours from my husband. They were painted around 1900 by his mother, whom I never met, as she had died only weeks before I first met him in 1946. The pictures stayed packed away in boxes until after he died, but I have brought them out to see the light of day, and had them framed as a set.
The artist herself named the top two, and I made a trip to Whitby to visit the scenes myself - a rather eerie but somehow romantic experience, to 'meet' one's mother-in-law in such a way, 60 years after getting to know her younger son, and several years after his death.
 |
| Sandsend, Whitby |
 |
| Arguments Yard, Whitby |
The second two pictures, below, were un-named, but I began a search of the web to see if I could confirm my feeling that they too are Whitby scenes. I found old photographs that seemed to be looking past Whitby Old Town Hall to Market Place, seen from a point very similar to the painting on the left. The one on the right shows a ruin on a hill which could well be the old Abbey.
I shall be immensely grateful if anyone is able to confirm these two last locations for me, so that I can name them all and hang them as a group on my diningroom wall.
 |
| Whitby harbour and Abbey ruins? |
 |
| Whitby Old Town Hall and Market Place ? |
6 comments:
What wonderful pictures, Judith. So wonderful that you can "meet" this special lady at these places, so many years later.
annie
Lovely to get such a quick response from you Annie, when this is my first real post for, oh, it must be a year or two. The longer one leaves it the harder it is to get back in.
And the whole system has changed since I last posted, and I can't make it work for me yet. There's always a new learning curve waiting in this technological world!
Not only memorabilia but very attractive and well executed paintings. Did she leave any more?
Hullo Beryl, it's good to have a first-time visitor to my re-started blog. I visited your blogs, and I think the Holidailies project would be a good one for me, but I don't think I could handle the discipline!
Yes, there are a fair number of other paintings by my mother-in-law, some neveer framed,and some in the very dark heavy wood frames of the early 20th century(which pretty much overpower the watercolours in my view). I was able to send a number to my husband's sister who lives in Vancouver, and the rest are stored in my 'archive room' (which used to be a guest nursery for grandchildren), until somebody else wishes to claim them.
What a great blog. I love the pictures and I love what you said in your 'about me' about wanting to leave your footprints behind. It's kind of why I started my blog, too.
beneaththeelmtree.blogspot.com
Post a Comment