A fine early painting by the great Victorian Hull artist Henry Redmore is to go under the hammer on Friday (September 11) after being sent home to Yorkshire from the United States. A Jack Rigg painting of two of the Humber tugs that played heroic parts in the Falklands War has also been entered in the auction.
The pictures are just two of the entries in a spectacular array of marine art, a third of Friday’s fine paintings auction at David Duggleby’s Saleroom in Scarborough. It will see art valued at over £100,000 go under the hammer.
The Redmore, “Barges and Other Shipping Drying their Sails in an Estuary Anchorage”, is dated 1860, which makes it a quite early surviving example of the work of Henry (1820-1887), the Hull carpenter’s son who became one of the most acclaimed marine artists of his day. Duggleby art specialist Dominic Cox said: “The painting depicts several sailing vessels moored on a lovely calm evening on the water, with two fishermen on a small rowing boat at work in the foreground.
“It’s tempting to think, Humber; but frustratingly the estuary isn’t identified. Redmore could be pretty vague with his titling, which we might think was very inconsiderate of him!
“Of course it could be argued in an artist’s defence that the absence of a specific location might give a picture wider appeal than its local area and this painting has had very wide appeal – it has been sent for auction from a collection in the United States.” The pre-sale estimate for the Redmore is £1,500-£2,000.
Of Rigg’s painting of the Humber tugs involved in the Falklands War, Dominic said: “The Salvageman and the Irishman were among the first vessels requisitioned for the naval task force that was despatched to the South Atlantic during the Falklands War and they were involved in some of the most dramatic action of the conflict.
“Among other things it was the Salvageman that towed HMS Glasgow to safety after it had been hit by a 1,000lb bomb and it was the Irishman that went to the aid of the burning merchant navy ship, Atlantic Conveyor, after it had been hit by two exocet missiles. Jack Rigg did his painting of the two tugs at sea in 1991, his contribution to the tenth anniversary of the 1982 Falklands War which was marked just a few months later.”
The painting, which has a pre-sale estimate of £200-£400, has been entered by a Hull vendor whose family had owned it for many years. The top result in the auction is expected to be a remarkable work by the Scottish artist Robert Gemmell Hutchison (1855-1936), depicting King Edward VII reviewing Scottish Volunteer regiments in Holyrood Park in Edinburgh in 1905.
The event involved – and Hutchison’s painting had to attempt to depict – 40,000 troops and an estimated quarter of a million spectators. The pre-sale estimate is £5,000-£8,000.
Returning to the subject of unidentified locations, one painting arrived in the saleroom without even a title. Fortunately the renowned Teesside artist Len Tabner (born 1946) is still with us and as a result of Dominic’s team making contact with him, “Evening Snow on the Road to Lofthouse” goes into the sale identified for the first time since it was painted 43 years ago. It is expected to make £2,000-£3,000.
The sale catalogue is available on the firm’s website at davidduggleby.com and viewing is taking place at the Vine Street Saleroom, in Scarborough, throughout the week. The auction begins at 11am on Friday.
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