Lot 62: JAMES WILSON MORRICE 1865 - 1924

JAMES WILSON MORRICE 1865 - 1924 HORSE AND CART AT SIDE OF THE RIVER signed lower left J.W. Morrice; stamped with the Morrice studio stamp and inscribed From J.W. Morrice's studio, Guaranteed by W. Scott and Sons and the number M360 on the reverse oil on canvas laid down on board 21.6 by 29.2 cm. 8 ½ by 11 ½ in.

Nicole Cloutier, James Wilson Morrice, 1865 - 1924, Montreal, 1985, p. 75

W.M. Scott and Sons, Montreal
Private Collection, Quebec City

This fine painting by James Wilson Morrice has been finished with care and likely intended for exhibition. It also provides some important clues that help determine his migration through Europe and development as an artist.

Although the work is not expiicitly dated, the signature resembles that which appears on works from his time in Toronto before leaving for Europe. He first lived in Paris, but in the Spring of 1891 we find him in the Primrose Hill District of London, listed in the Census as a "painter". While he may have been studying there or working as an artist, he soon left London to paint in the country and many of his landscapes point to the region around Oxford. Indeed, the building rendered in the present work, a stone cottage or barn with a slate roof and brick chimneys, seems to take us to the west of Oxford, close to or into the Cotswolds region, rather than in Brittany or the region around Paris.

But there is a stronger clue to its 'Englishness': the choice of the motif, especially the presence of a cart, evoke Constable's famous "Hay Wain", proudly displayed by the National Gallery since it was given to it in 1886.

We extend special thanks to Lucie Dorais for her contribution to this entry. Ms. Dorais is currently compiling the catalogue raisonné for James Wilson Morrice.