Accession Number

2015.012.005a-b

Description

Watercolour (b) in original gilt frame (a), one building to left surrounded by copse of trees with a boathouse to its right, two windows visible, the left of the building hidden by shrubs. Both buildings are light orange/red and depicted on left mid-ground behind a fence, a beach and a large piece of driftwood in foreground. The shoreline veers to the right. A long, low fence runs along the background into the distance. Gold-coloured matting. The gilded frame has a repeating scroll-work pattern.

Narrative

The painting is titled on the verso, “Boat House – Oak Bay”. The donor, a Dunsmuir descendant, believes that the painting was by Mrs. Samuel (Daisy) Maclure, but former Art Gallery of Greater Victoria Curator Robert Amos and Dr. Kathryn Bridge former Curator of History and Art at the Royal B.C. Museum - British Columbia Archives have expressed the opinion that the painting was likely done by Sarah Crease. Craigdarroch Castle Curator Bruce Davies concurs with them. Dr. Bridge speculates that the work could also be by Sarah’s daughter, Mary Maberly Crease.

An inscription on the verso indicates that it was purchased new by “Bryden”. This was probably the senior Mrs. Bryden who was born Elizabeth Hamilton Dunsmuir, later wife to John Cowper Bryden. Less likely is that the name refers to Elizabeth's daughter-in-law, Ellen Gertrude Tarbell (aka "Mimi") who married her son John William Bryden in 1905. 

History of Use

This picture was purchased when new by "Mrs. Bryden", who was probably Elizabeth Hamilton Dunsmuir (Mrs. John Cowper Bryden). The painting may have been acquired to hang on the wall in the Bryden's Esquimalt house named Dalzellowlie, which was completed in 1894. 

Sometime after the death of John Cowper Bryden in 1915, the painting was inherited by his son, John William Bryden, and next by his son Gerald Robert Bryden of Royston, and finally by Gerald's daughter, who donated the painting to Craigdarroch Castle. 

Date

circa 1894

Dimensions

12.7 cm x 21.59 cm

Material

Paint, watercolour; Paper; Paper, matboard; Wood; Paint, powder; Metal, gold

Artwork Title

Boat House – Oak Bay

Inscription

Boat House
Oak Bay
2.00
Bryden

Country of Origin

Canada