24 The Robin Hanbury-Tenison OBE Collection R


obin Hanbury-Tenison OBE, is an internationally renowned explorer who,


despite having travelled to the far flung corners of the world, always returned to his Cornish home and his passion for collecting paintings by Newlyn School artists. Beginning in 1974, while living in a large


farmhouse on Bodmin moor with large empty walls, he and his late first wife, Marika, consulted their great friends, the landscape artist John Miller and the potter Michael Truscott. Both told them that, since they had made Cornwall their home, they should look seriously at the Newlyn School artists as, in their opinion, they were neglected and undervalued. Robin and Marika did this over fifteen years, accumulating a substantial collection. Robin’s first purchase was a small watercolour of a bridge over a river by Lamorna Birch, for which he paid £11. Six more pictures followed: another Birch, a Laura Knight circus drawing, a Julius Olsson seascape, a John Gutteridge Sykes landscape and two small watercolours by T.C. Gotch. For Robin it was Gotch who stood head and shoulders above all the rest and he began to collect him obsessively. Listed in his good friend Christopher Wood’s definitive book on The Brotherhood as the last of the Pre-Raphaelites, Gotch could draw like an angel and, after studying in Italy, many


Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood Okehampton Street, Exeter. EX4 1DU Tel: 01392 413100 www.bhandl.co.uk


of his early subjects were indeed angels. In Paris, he joined the atelier of Jean-Paul Laurens, and Robin was able to acquire a self-portrait of the Master dedicated à mon ancien elève T.C.Gotch. He became one of the first symbolist painters, using his daughter, Phyllis, as the model for many of his works. In later life he developed a considerable talent as a landscape artist. Gotch’s granddaughter, Deirdre MacLellan, inherited her grandfather’s house and studio from her mother Phyllis. Robin visited Deirdre many times, acquiring several paintings and drawings, as well as many of Gotch’s letters and sketchbooks, all of which he has donated to The Newlyn Archive which is located in the Admiralty Boathouse in Newlyn. The Newlyn Archive holds the West Cornwall Art Archive which already has a collection of material about the Gotch family.


Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood are honoured to have been instructed by Robin Hanbury- Tenison to sell his collection in the Fine Art Auction of the 9th & 10th October at their Exeter salerooms, maintaining the strong West Country links to an important collection. For further details please contact Dan Goddard on 01392 413100


ANTIQUES, MARITIME


& JEWELLERY VALUATION DAY KINGSBRIDGE


Tuesday 20th November Harbour House The Promenade Kingsbridge 10.00am - 1.00pm


All enquiries please call 01392 413100


A rare Chinese cloisonné tripod censer, Ming Dynasty Sold for £23,000


St. Edmund’s Court, Okehampton Street, Exeter. EX4 1DU T: 01392 413100 W: www.bhandl.co.uk


E: enquiries@bhandl.co.uk


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164