painting
painting
painting

painting

Artwork

Accession Number
2014.019a-c
Description
This watercolour picture (c) of a coastal landscape was painted by noted British Columbia architect and artist, Samuel Maclure (1860-1929). A west coast scene depicts a small mass of land with a copse of trees to the left (foreground) with a body of water and birds on the right. A boat is docked on the sandy beach with mountains in the background. (a) wood frame with damaged decorative elements snapped off to create a uniform appearance around the perimeter. (b) gold matting
Narrative
This watercolour picture of a coastal landscape was painted by noted British Columbia architect and artist, Samuel Maclure (1860-1929).

Several people, among them art historians, have studied the picture, and it is thought to depict the area around Matsqui, BC, circa 1890. That would mean the body of water is the Fraser River or perhaps Sumas Lake. Others have suggested that the scene depicts the area around Cowichan Bay, BC.

Maclure designed three houses for the Dunsmuir family: Hatley Park for James and Laura Dunsmuir; Allingham for Robert William Dunsmuir and his wife Maude, and; Ellora for Sarah Byrd Audain (nee Dunsmuir) and her husband Guy Mortimer Audain.

Maclure watercolour paintings were sold from Hatley Castle at the Executor’s auction held in 1939.  Two Maclure paintings also sold from Joan Dunsmuir’s bedroom at Craigdarroch during the 1909 auction that was administered by Joan Dunsmuir’s executors.  One of them was listed as Lot #402 and titled “Wreck of San Pedro”.  The Royal British Columbia Museum owns a Maclure titled “Wreck of the S.S. San Pedro on Brotchie Ledge” (PDP00162), and this may have come from Craigdarroch.  The title of the other painting sold from Craigdarroch, listed as Lot #402a, is not known.

The pierced decorative elements on the outer edge of the frame were damaged before the donor inherited this picture, and the remaining fragments were snapped off to create a uniform appearance around the perimeter. A small portion survived and it matches the decorative trim on the frames of these Bryden pictures: 2015.012.005a-b and 2015.012.006a-b.
History of Use
This painting was inherited by the donor from her father, the late Gerald Bryden (1913-1992) of Royston, BC who had inherited it from his father John William Bryden (1869-1953) of Royston, BC.  John William Bryden’s parents were Elizabeth Hamilton Dunsmuir (Mrs. John Bryden) and John Cowper Bryden (1848-1915).  Elizabeth was the first child of Robert and Joan Dunsmuir.

The painting dates from about 1890 and probably once hung in the Elizabeth Hamilton Dunsmuir (Mrs. John Bryden) and John Cowper Bryden house named Dalzellowlie, which was completed in 1894 and situated at 664 Head Street in Esquimalt, B.C.

How and when the Bryden's acquired this picture is unknown.  It is possible that John Cowper Bryden or his son John William Bryden attended the 1909 Craigdarroch auction and bought this painting there or simply removed it from Craigdarroch prior to the sale.  It is also possible that John and Elizabeth Bryden or their sons John William Bryden or Robert Dunsmuir Bryden acquired the picture from Maclure himself, or at a Victoria gallery.  It is not likely that the boys' sister, Joan Olive Bryden, acquired the painting, because if she had, it would probably have been passed down through one of her three daughters, the famed “Macdonald sisters”, from whom The Cstle Society has acquired other domestic material.
Date
circa 1890
Dimensions
72 x 52 cm
Material
Wood; Gesso; Metal, gold; Paper, matboard
Artist/Photographer
Samuel Maclure
Subject/Image
landscape with body of water
Medium
Watercolour
Support
Paper
Technique
Painted
Country of Origin
Canada

Related people/businesses/organizations
Samuel Maclure (artist)
Elizabeth Hamilton Dunsmuir (owner)
John Cowper Bryden (owner)
John William Bryden (owner)
Gerald Robert Bryden (owner)
Related Association
Dalzellowlie (house) (was used in)