Accession Number

2014.014.001a-b

Description

A watercolor painting inside a gold-coloured wooden frame that is worn at the corners, a ribbed pattern decorating the frame's concave surfaces. The painting depicts a coastal harbour with blue-tinged snow-capped mountains in the background. The coastline is crowded with tallships, other boats, and man-made structures. In the mid- and foreground float sailboats and small water-craft of varying sizes and most prominently at the centre and to the right. Two white birds fly over the water in the left foreground.

Narrative

This picture from the Bryden family collection dates to about 1890. The scene depicted is unidentified. Bronze-powder paint on the glass suggests that the frame’s original surface finish has been painted over.

History of Use

This picture from the Bryden family collection dates to about 1890 and probably once hung in the John and Elizabeth Bryden house named Dalzellowlie. That house was completed in 1894 and situated on Head Street in Esquimalt, B.C. It is also possible, but less likely, that one of their sons, John William Bryden (1869-1953) or Robert Dunsmuir Bryden (1868-1945) brought the painting into the family. The picture was acquired from a granddaughter of John William Bryden in 2014. She had displayed it in her Courtney, B.C. house until then. 

Date

circa 1890

Dimensions

40.5 x 4 x 64 cm

Material

Paint, watercolour; Paper; Wood

Support

Paper

Technique

Painted

Inscription

unsigned