This beautiful late-19th-century watercolour by English artist Edith Isabel Barrow (1865-1930) depicts a glass vase with white azaleas, brass jug, cup, saucer and tray. Barrow was a notable, Royal Academy-exhibited, painter of still lifes and landscapes.
Imbued with the irrepressible buoyancy of Spring, brilliant white blooms captivate the eye like a gathering of jubilant old friends. Their petals are delicately handled with a keen appreciation of light. While their stems are cleverly rendered through the curved transparency of glass. A tray with ornate detailing stands behind.
Born in Bermondsey, Barrow developed advanced drawing skills from an early age and enrolled at the Blackheath School of Art. Here, under the tutelage of Mr J Hill, she was awarded several medals for her draughtsmanship. The style of tuition was predominantly traditional with students expected to learn from the masters of yesteryear, copying plaster casts and diligently analysing old master prints.
Next, she entered the Goldsmiths' Institute and began winning medals for her still life paintings - a subject that she would specialise in for the remainder of her career.
In 1890, she debuted at London’s prestigious Royal Academy with ‘Azaleas’ - a flower she would return to time and time again. There’s a purity to her work, a delicacy in the treatment of each petal, which suits this elegant shrub. Eight of her exhibited watercolours at the Academy would feature them.
Following the death of her father, she moved to the picturesque fishing village of Combe Martin, North Devon, with her mother. As an artist, she had inspiration on her doorstep - secluded sandy beaches, harbours and extensive views across the undulant countryside. She remained here and developed a solid reputation as an artist of merit. In addition to her stills, she also painted landscapes - charming vignettes of Westcountry idylls, with many of these exhibited locally and celebrated by critics.
“Unlike the modern school, this artist prefers a quiet naturalism to the more recent methods of composition, her pictures being delightful and appealing. She endeavours to make a flower look like a flower, and does not use it simply as a symbol.”
In 1918, Queen Mary purchased her ‘Still Life with White Primulas’ - a worthy highlight to crown an impressive career.
Signed in the lower left and framed/glazed.
Learn more about Edith Isabel Barrow in our directory.
Medium: Watercolour with bodycolour on paper
Overall size: 43½” x 32½” / 110cm x 83cm
Year of creation: c. 1890
Labels & Inscriptions: Label on the reverse with description.
Provenance: Private collection, UK.
Condition: Overall, very good.
Artist’s auction maximum: £2,500 for ‘Digitalis Purpurea and Rosa Rugosa Growing Against a Wall’, Watercolour on paper, Bonhams, London, Fine British and Continental Watercolours and Drawings, 2001 (lot 71).
Our reference: BRV1942
