Wilfred Gabriel De Glehn, R.A.

David Messum, London (by 1992)

Sunlit, Battersea Park was painted from one of the upper storey windows of de Glehn’s house on Cheyne Walk in Chelsea. This stretch of the Thames, looking westwards over Battersea Bridge towards Lots Road Power Station, was known at this time as Whistler’s Reach, having inspired several of the artist and Cheyne Road resident’s most famous paintings. Whistler had lived his last years at number 72 Cheyne Walk but died shortly before the de Glehn’s moved into number 73 in 1904. The de Glehn’s neighbours in Chelsea included his great friend John Singer Sargent and Philip Wilson Steer who de Glehn would call on after his 5pm stroll along the embankment after a day working in the studio. De Glehn would have felt the influence of Whistler upon him at this time but also the other artists who had painted the Thames, including Turner and particularly Claude Monet. Like Monet who painted an important series of views of London from the Thames between 1899 and 1904, de Glehn painted a series of pictures depicting the view of the power station and bridge at different times of the year and under differing weather conditions. He found the view endlessly fascinating and continued to paint it for over a decade. A wintery example, entitled Chelsea Reach, was dated 1916 (sold in these rooms, 1 September 1999, lot 1308), whilst The Thames at Cheyne Walk was painted twelve years later in 1928 (Christie's, London, 24 May 2002, lot 103) - other undated examples include Wandsworth Bridge (Phillips, London, 13 June 1989, lot 32) and The Thames at Battersea (Christie's, London, 9 November 1989, lot 36).