Lot 240: Ralph Hartley , 1926-1988 towards thorpe; canterbury; trees at evening; autumn landscape; the garden at the dower house, boughton watercolour

five, each signed and variously dated l.l.: RALPH HARTLEY watercolour Quantity: 5

largest: 55 by 75.5 cm.; 21 ¾ by 29 ¾ in.

Probably bought by Sir David Scott from the Kettering Art Exhibition c. 1958 (the watercolour of the garden at the Dower House was probably a direct commission from the artist)

'Towards Thorpe. Nobody, I venture to say, but an English-man and a countryman could have painted either of these pictures by Ralph Hartley. They show such an understanding of the countryside, of the beauty of the ploughland and grassland and of the different shapes of the various kinds of trees; and, above all, of our ever changing skies.If you don't like them from close to, try looking at them from further off, and then, when you next go into the country, see if you don't find the fields and trees and skies much more interesting and exciting to look at as a result of having seen his pictures. I know I do.' Sir David Scott