John Atkinson Grimshaw 1836-1893

London, Faustus Galleries, 28th April 1976;

Private collection

Grimshaw’s paintings are never simply deserted landscapes devoid of humanity and almost without exception, he suggested the animation of human activity, whether it be the illumination of a window suggesting a resident within or a figure wandering along the pavement. Lovers at the Gate, is even more enlivened as the mysterious young lady who often features in Grimshaw’s work, is accompanied by a young gentleman for a lover’s tryst. The romantic subject adds a charm to the typically beautiful Grimshaw image, of the gates of a large suburban house where leafless trees are set against the malachite of an evening sky. The starry sky completes the romance and we can easily concur that the two lovers are returning from a walk beneath the stars, perhaps to their home or to what they wish were their home. A similarly touching romantic scene is Home Again (private collection) which depicts a sailor at the docks embracing his beloved on his return home. Under the Moonbeams of 1882 (Collection of Mr Harry C. Hagerty) depicts a similar tryst in which the lovers are punting on a lake in the foreground. Unlike Lovers at the Gate, the figures in Under the Moonbeams are dressed in Eighteenth Century costume and set before a more imposing manor house. The mood of the 1882 picture is far more grandiose, whereas Lovers at the Gate depicts a more touching and intimate moment of anecdotal harmony.

Although Grimshaw would not immediately be thought of as a figurative painter and his figures are usually small and secondary to the majesty of the landscape, they are usually there all the same, somewhere in the composition. They are included to add a further dimension to the landscape painting, often suggesting an enigmatic question or posing a problem for the spectator, thus drawing them in to create a narrative to explain their inclusion. In such pictures as lot 320, the inclusion of the female pedestrian provokes queries as to her identity, her destination and her origins. In a series of unusual paintings by Grimshaw, he approached narrative and romance in a much less subtle manner, including winged fairies and medieval heroines in images such as Iris (Leeds City Art Gallery) and Elaine (collection of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber). In these paintings the figure was given far more importance and the landscape a secondary note of beauty. Lovers at the Gate presents the landscape as the subject and unlike Elaine and Iris, the balance between the enigma of the figures and the mystery and romance suggested by landscape, is far more harmonious.