Lot 149: WILLIAM CHRISTIAN SYMONS 1845-1911

THE ANCHOR'S WEIGHED, REMEMBER ME

measurements note
88 by 110 cm., 34 1/2 by 43 1/4 in.

signed l.l.: W. C. Symons, inscribed on the remains of the artist's label attached to the stretcher: Squire's Mount/ Hampstead

oil on canvas

EXHIBITED

Royal Society of British Artists, 1885, no. 300

NOTE

William Christian Symons attended the Lambeth School of Art at an early age before entering the Royal Academy in 1866. In 1870 he began what was to become a long association with Lavers, Barraud and Westlake producing High Gothic Revival glass. Another important association began in 1881 when he became a member of the Royal Society of British Artists and met James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Despite their friendship, and other influences from the Barbazon School and the work of John Singer Sargent, Symonds retained a unique style.
This is evident in the present work where Symonds takes the Victorian theme of romantic departure with free and painterly treatment.