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The Lawn Tennis Party at Marcus

image © The Barber Institute of Fine Arts | All Rights Reserved

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Date

1889

Artist

Arthur Melville (1858-1904)

Collection

The Barber Institute of Fine Arts

Description

Originally conceived in the late summer of 1886, Melville’s fresh and spontaneous watercolour shows the family home of John Robertson (a friend of the artist), at Marcus in north-east Scotland. Robertson himself is sitting at the tea-table with the Revd John Herkless, later Principal of St Andrews University, while Mrs Robertson and Mrs (later Lady) Herkless play tennis gracefully in the foreground, underneath an autumnal tree. Melville’s first sketch for the subject was conceived in his blurry ‘blotesque’ manner, capturing the rapid movement of the players. In this finished watercolour, painted for exhibition after a gap of three years, his style is much more precise and the details of the composition more resolved. Perhaps the Robertsons rejected the first work and asked for greater clarity in the second.

Image Licence

All Rights Reserved

Image Credit

image © The Barber Institute of Fine Arts

Location

Marcus, Angus, Scotland

Country

Medium

Tags

Architecture
Buildings
Domestic Life
Gardens
Landscapes
Leisure
Residential Buildings
Sport

Category

People & Society

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© 2024 Watercolour World | Technology by The Museum Platform

© 2024 Watercolour World | Technology by The Museum Platform