13th Jun, 2024 10:30
Summer Specialist Sale
Harold John Wilde Gilman, (Rode, Somerset 1876 - London 1919) - Oil on board
Harold John Wilde Gilman, (Rode, Somerset 1876 - London 1919) - Oil on board - 'Artist's brother bathing', a young naked boy about to dive into the water at Romney Marshes, unsigned (but see provenance note below), 26.5cm x 20.5cm, framed
Entitled to plain typewritten label, which is inscribed as follows:
"Provenance: H.G.'s brother from whom Agnew's purchased it - he sent a letter to Joll of Agnew's saying the boy is his young brother Gordon; scene Romney Marsh (his father was Rector of Snargate) probably 1904 / 05"
Second label beneath: Thos. Agnew & Sons Ltd. Inventory number 21338, over pouch with handwritten letter from the artist's aforementioned brother, transcibed below:
Hillside, Mill Hill, Kingsnorth, Ashford, Kent 27.1.1961
A lot of this may be of no interest to your client, so pass on to him only what you consider relevant.
Dear Joll
I am very happy to supply details some of which I hope may be of interest to the purchaser of the painting of my young brother in his birthday suit.
I was away in China from 1900 to 1914 but am fairly sure that the painting was executed circa 1904/1905 when my young brother was still a boy at Hurstpierpoint.
It was certainly painted in Romney Marsh, + I suspect that the bathing place was either in the Royal Military Canal or one of the larger dykes nearby the Rectory at Snargate.
Gordon Edward Charles Rowland Gilman (the subject of the painting) was the youngest son of my father the Rev. John Gilman who was Rector of Snargate + Snave, Romney Marsh for 28 years. Snargate is historical in that the Ingoldsby Legends were written there by a former Rector, Barham I think.
Harold Gilman (the painter) was the 2nd son and, as you doubtless know, fell victim to the ‘flu that swept England and elsewhere in 1918/1919. He contracted this whilst nursing a brother painter Charles Ginner.
Gordon Gilman went into the Army after school and later joined the Essex Regiment. He left the Army later on and joined a firm of Engineers who were the pioneers of Asphalt roads which revolutionised road construction and now carry our enormous traffic.
I was with my brother in Trafalgar Square the night war was declared in August 1914, and, at 5 o’clock the same morning, we were on our way by car to Romney Marsh to break the news to our parents that we were joining up. He went into the R. N. A. S. (Royal Naval Air Service) and I the Honourable Artillery Co., and we were both in France in the thick of it by the middle of Sept. 1914. He was eventually commissioned in the R. E. and I in the Machine Gun Corps and, having miraculously escaped death, we were both demobilised in Feb 1919. Curiously enough he began the war and I ended it in armoured cars!
My brother Gordon ended up as a Staff Captain with a M. C. Croix de Guerre and Mention in Despatches to his credit.
On the outbreak of war in 1939 my brother dropped everything and joined the Royal Engineers and it was in 1942 (April) that he unhappily suffered a cerebral stroke and died instantly. He was, at that time, Major in command of a Company of R.E.
He was a fine and very gallant soldier. I have dug out, and enclose, a snap of my brother taken outside Snargate Rectory when he was a Subaltern in the Essex Regiment. I also enclose another photo of him taken shortly after his demob. in 1919, and your client is welcome to those if of any interest.
I reached the age of 80 last week, and though ‘mens sana in corpore sano’ I do not like the cold wind!
Best wishes, hoping you are well.
Yours sincerely Gilman
* Many thanks for the charming reproduction you sent me at Christmas. This is one I shall keep!
* I have no photo taken in the last war to complete the sequence.
Harold Gilman was one of seven children born to Emily Purcell Gulliver and John Gilman, Curate of Rode, Somerset. The family moved to Snargate Rectory, and Harold attende Hastings School of Art before transferring to Slade School of Fine Art (1897-1901).
In 1907, Gilman met Walter Sickert, and together they found the Fitzroy Street Group in that year and the Camden Town Group in 1911. He taught at Westminster School of Art
Harold John Wilde Gilman, (Rode, Somerset 1876 - London 1919) - Oil on board - 'Artist's brother bathing', a young naked boy about to dive into the water at Romney Marshes, unsigned (but see provenance note below), 26.5cm x 20.5cm, framed
Entitled to plain typewritten label, which is inscribed as follows:
"Provenance: H.G.'s brother from whom Agnew's purchased it - he sent a letter to Joll of Agnew's saying the boy is his young brother Gordon; scene Romney Marsh (his father was Rector of Snargate) probably 1904 / 05"
Second label beneath: Thos. Agnew & Sons Ltd. Inventory number 21338, over pouch with handwritten letter from the artist's aforementioned brother, transcibed below:
Hillside, Mill Hill, Kingsnorth, Ashford, Kent 27.1.1961
A lot of this may be of no interest to your client, so pass on to him only what you consider relevant.
Dear Joll
I am very happy to supply details some of which I hope may be of interest to the purchaser of the painting of my young brother in his birthday suit.
I was away in China from 1900 to 1914 but am fairly sure that the painting was executed circa 1904/1905 when my young brother was still a boy at Hurstpierpoint.
It was certainly painted in Romney Marsh, + I suspect that the bathing place was either in the Royal Military Canal or one of the larger dykes nearby the Rectory at Snargate.
Gordon Edward Charles Rowland Gilman (the subject of the painting) was the youngest son of my father the Rev. John Gilman who was Rector of Snargate + Snave, Romney Marsh for 28 years. Snargate is historical in that the Ingoldsby Legends were written there by a former Rector, Barham I think.
Harold Gilman (the painter) was the 2nd son and, as you doubtless know, fell victim to the ‘flu that swept England and elsewhere in 1918/1919. He contracted this whilst nursing a brother painter Charles Ginner.
Gordon Gilman went into the Army after school and later joined the Essex Regiment. He left the Army later on and joined a firm of Engineers who were the pioneers of Asphalt roads which revolutionised road construction and now carry our enormous traffic.
I was with my brother in Trafalgar Square the night war was declared in August 1914, and, at 5 o’clock the same morning, we were on our way by car to Romney Marsh to break the news to our parents that we were joining up. He went into the R. N. A. S. (Royal Naval Air Service) and I the Honourable Artillery Co., and we were both in France in the thick of it by the middle of Sept. 1914. He was eventually commissioned in the R. E. and I in the Machine Gun Corps and, having miraculously escaped death, we were both demobilised in Feb 1919. Curiously enough he began the war and I ended it in armoured cars!
My brother Gordon ended up as a Staff Captain with a M. C. Croix de Guerre and Mention in Despatches to his credit.
On the outbreak of war in 1939 my brother dropped everything and joined the Royal Engineers and it was in 1942 (April) that he unhappily suffered a cerebral stroke and died instantly. He was, at that time, Major in command of a Company of R.E.
He was a fine and very gallant soldier. I have dug out, and enclose, a snap of my brother taken outside Snargate Rectory when he was a Subaltern in the Essex Regiment. I also enclose another photo of him taken shortly after his demob. in 1919, and your client is welcome to those if of any interest.
I reached the age of 80 last week, and though ‘mens sana in corpore sano’ I do not like the cold wind!
Best wishes, hoping you are well.
Yours sincerely Gilman
* Many thanks for the charming reproduction you sent me at Christmas. This is one I shall keep!
* I have no photo taken in the last war to complete the sequence.
Harold Gilman was one of seven children born to Emily Purcell Gulliver and John Gilman, Curate of Rode, Somerset. The family moved to Snargate Rectory, and Harold attende Hastings School of Art before transferring to Slade School of Fine Art (1897-1901).
In 1907, Gilman met Walter Sickert, and together they found the Fitzroy Street Group in that year and the Camden Town Group in 1911. He taught at Westminster School of Art
Auction: Summer Specialist Sale, 13th Jun, 2024
Our Summer Specialist Sale of Fine Furniture, Modern Design, Paintings, Prints, Silver, Jewellery, Watches, Ceramics, Glassware & other Collectors
Highlights included an Austral Islands Cheif's staff £15,500, a Large Minton majolica elephant four-branch candelabrum centrepiece £6,200, an Asscher cut diamond (approx. 4.5 carats) platinum ring £11,500, The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India, K.C.S.I £12,500, and an early 19th century double-sided micromosaic table box £11,000.
Viewing
Wednesday 12th June - 10am till 5pm
