Reginald Rex Vicat Cole ( 1870-1940 )
Scene ” John Gill’s farmland at Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire ”
Size 8 1/2″ x 5″ ( 11 1/2” x 8” framed ) ………$1195.00 Canadian
We are extremely great full to Tim Barringer for his expert insight of this painting by Rex Vicat Cole.
“I am pleased to see that you have a small painting by Rex Vicat Cole, an artist I’ve researched for many years. I can’t be entirely sure about the date but most of his small works on wood panel (he used Whistler’s term ‘pochade’ for atmospheric, pocket-sized paintings, though he mis-spelled it ‘pochard’) were made around 1899-1905. I can identify very specifically the subject which is the farmland at Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire; indeed it is a scene on the farm owned by John Gill, New Hall; Rex married John’s daughter Hannah in 1901 and eventually bought the farm in 1931. The view is towards Nesfield (where the small hill on the horizon seen here is a Roman signal station) and Langbar.
I should add that Rex and Hannah were my great-grandparents and I grew up visiting that field every week, so it’s a delight to see the painting. I am thrilled to see one of these small paintings. Very few of them, as far as I know, survive.”
Tim Barringer
Chair and Paul Mellon Professor
Department of the History of Art
Yale University
