Lot 49: Stanley Royle RCA, RBA, ARWEA, 1888-1961 BLUEBELLS

Stanley Royle RCA, RBA, ARWEA, 1888-1961 BLUEBELLS IN A WOODLAND Oil on canvas, 20" x 24" (51 x 61cm).
Provenance: Private Collection, Dublin (same as lot 48). Woodland scenes were a regular feature of Royle's work, The Margin of the Wood, 1911, being the earliest recorded example. This was followed two years later by Spring Morning Amongst the Bluebells, which may be regarded as the first in a succession of paintings, which feature this annual display. We should also bear in mind that the proper title of Royle's Goose Girl in the National Gallery of Ireland is Amongst the Bluebells. Royle was essentially a plein air painter, an occupation which brought him very close to nature and her changing seasons. The prolific growth of this small blue flower, which covered the clearings in the woodlands around Sheffield, would have had a profound effect on him as there is no surer sign of the arrival of spring. Apart from bluebells, the theme of gathering flowers in fields and woodlands runs right through Royle's early career. However, by the late 1920s, his manner had changed and his landscapes became almost devoid of human presence, which is the case with a small number of paintings of bluebell woods, which he did in 1930 and 1931. These are identical in palette, style and handling to the present work, which was probably painted in Whitely Wood, Sheffield, about this time. Apart from this, the familiar Glasgow School device, whereby a single upright tree trunk is placed in the foreground, is also typical of Royle's early work. As the painting carries the same provenance as Driving out the Flock, it is reasonable to suggest that both of these paintings have a direct link to Stanley Royle's studio. Dominic Milmo-Penny, February 2012