Walter Horsnell Waltercolour

Hello there.  This is a very interesting thread.   Because it comes so high in Google when searching for Walter Horsnell I thought I'd add a photo of my own painting by him.  Compared to some others I've seen it's a loose and relatively freeform watercolour, highly accomplished.  I too picked it up at a general auction a few years ago for next to nothing and it's become very dear to me.  Can almost smell the air on what I imagine was a cool late-summer day.   Adrian: the context and background information you've given has been fascinating.  You're obviously (and rightly) very proud of your talented father.  Anyway, hope some people find this adds to their knowledge of Mr Horsnell's work.

Nice painting, as you say its much looser than the other examples. It would be interesting to know what period of his life this style dates from. It could have been a study that was painted at the scene for a later painting.

Welcome to the forum spedster:@wave:

Davee wrote:Some more info on Walter would be great. Yes there was water damage to the frame but luckily not to the picture. Its a great painting and quite large for a water colour 30" x 19". I have tried to work out where the scene is but without much success, i'm guessing it's Yorkshire as that seems to be where most of Walters paintings were set.

Finally managed to identify the location of my painting. It's St Oswald's Church, Arncliffe, Littondale, North Yorkshire.

Hi Davee,
Well done! That must have taken some finding; it's not a place I know and it wasn't a place he went to much when I was a small boy. From the age of about 6 to 12 I used to go with him when he went out painting so I became familiar with many of the locations. Having said that I have a few in my collection of which am uncertain of the location.

Thank you for sharing the information.

Regards
Adrian

This is a great thread. I would personally like to thank Adrian Horsnell for the information he provided about his father. It was intriguing to gain more insight into Walter's life and career.

I would also like to share my original Walter Horsnell painting.   It's a beautiful depiction of Barden Bridge near Bolton Abbey. It's a large painting done in watercolours, and I am guessing it dates to around the 70s.

A better quality photo of it.

Hello Carl,

Thank you for sharing this photo of your painting of Barden Bridge. Yes I think you've got the age about right though it could have been into the early 80's. I'm sure it's not earlier because of the size and shape of the paper and because there appears to be little or no pencil sketching under the colour. It was in the 70's and 80's that he largely discontinued the "line and wash" technique. He would occasionally do line and wash with smaller (A4 sized paintings)but in those cases he often used a fine black biro for the line. These A4 paintings were works often done local to Harrogate  on the spur of the moment.  

Going back to the subject of Barden Bridge I remember one winter in the late 50's or very early 60's when the river froze over almost completely and my Dad stood on the ice in the middle of the river to paint. He took a piece of duckboard with him (to stand on) so that he wouldn't stick to the ice and he painted his picture from the other side of the bridge to your painting. I'm sure he was painting in watercolour which was bit unusual for such cold day  and he put  his (glass) water bottle down on the ice and a little while later it was of course frozen.

Once again, thanks for sharing.
Adrian

Hi Adrian,

Thank you for replying and for sharing the stories about your Dad. I greatly admire his work and I'm very happy to have one of his paintings in my home. I will never part with it! I would like to add more of his work to my collection as and when the opportunity presents itself.


I first came across his work whilst living in Hampsthwaite. I believe your Dad did multiple paintings in and around Hampsthwaite? One such example is a splendid winter scene he did of St Thomas a Becket church by the river. I missed out on that particular painting at auction, unfortunately. However, I made it my mission to get my hands on one of his paintings, and luckily I was able to get the one I shared.

Regards,

Carl

Thought I would add this to the posts.

My Grandfather was visiting friends in Spofforth and saw Walter Horsnell at work painting the view of the church. He talked to Walter and asked to buy the completed work, and received the painting in the post a short while later.

Graeme

Hello Graeme,

Thanks for sharing your picture which is not one I am familiar with. I left home in the early 1970's and judging by the style and the frame (which I guess would be contemporary) I think that  your painting was done in the 1980's. From the 1970's onwards all I saw was the paintings he had in his studio when I went home to visit. What I do know is that he did not do many paintings to the south and south east of Harrogate so in that sense your painting is a bit of a rarity. He mostly worked in Wharfedale,  Nidderdale, and occasionally Swaledale & Wensleydale. By 1990  he tended to paint much closer to home and that may be another reason why I think that your painting was done in the 80's. Do you know when your grandfather bought the painting? That of course would date it very accurately.  

Best regards
Adrian Horsnell

Hi Adrian
This is Grandfathers receipt, so you are quite right that it was in the 80's. This painting had pride of place in the Grandparents house, and now hangs in mine. I half remember that the lady in the painting was known to them. My wife an I used to visit the village an so can appreciate it as something tangible from the past.
Regards
Graeme

Hi Graeme,

That's great, it's good to know that I dated it more or less correctly - thank you! The copper beech tree in the right hand side middle distance shows that it was painted when summer was well advanced  but I suppose the clincher is the golden brown of the hay fields in the far distance.

Incidentally, from about the late 1970's onwards my father always  included the copyright when he sold paintings  so if for any reason you wanted to make a card or notelet from a photo of the painting you have no copyright  restrictions to be concerned about.

Thanks again,
Best regards
Adrian

What an interesting thread this has turned out to be, absolutely fascinating.
My father was an artist and art lecturer, and like your father, was doing an outline
sketch on the rows in Chester. A passer-by offered to buy the finished painting,
after only seeing the sketch, which was finished at home, and sold later.
I only vaguely remember it, as it did several in Chester.

I have a water colour which looks to be the same village as this picture. World love to know where this is please

It's St Oswald's Church, Arncliffe, Littondale, North Yorkshire. It appears to be a view of the bridge from where my picture was painted.

If you have a look on Google Street view you can see the view from the bridge although there are few more trees and bushes now.

Thanks for the info.i love the picture and have always wanted to know where he painted it.