Lot 217

The painting presents well at normal viewing, with the paint layer and its varnish even and consistent.

Inspection under UV light indicates various small areas and points of retouching scattered throughout. This work is not apparent at normal viewing, with the possible exception of the bluish white cloud(?) glimpsed between the trees upper right which (if it is a cloud) differs in colour from the other clouds (as is visible in the catalogue photos).

As noted in the catalogue description, the canvas has been laid down on composition board.

The modern frame is in good condition.



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James Archibald Hood (1859–1941), Midfield House, Rosewell, Midlothian, Scotland, probably acquired by him
Thence by descent

James Archibald Hood (1859–1941), son of the engineer and pioneering colliery owner Archibald Hood, took after his father as both an engineer and colliery operator, serving as managing director and then also chairman of the Lothian Coal Company from 1902 until his death.

After a devasting fire in 1912, J.A. Hood rebuilt his home, the eighteenth century Midfield House, to designs commissioned from the architect Sir Robert Lorimer. The present lot is recalled as having been hanging in that house amongst other earlier paintings acquired by Hood.