Charles E. Hannaford (British/Canadian, 1863-1955) RBA
‘Porth Bridge, Newquay’
watercolour
(Actual): 11 ½” high x 15 ¾” wide
(Framed): 17” high x 21 1/8” wide
WWI era watercolour painting by listed British/Canadian artist Charles E. Hannaford (1863-1955) RBA, titled ‘Porth Bridge, Newquay’. The view is from the waterbed at low tide, flanked by high rocky outcrops which are joined by the narrow wooden bridge to Porth Island on which stands a uniformed figure looking downward at the accumulated pools of water.
Under closer inspection it can be seen standing in the pool below, obscured by the colour and painted over by afterthought, and after IR reflectography has been utilized for clarity, perhaps a woman and a young boy.
The illuminated rock face particularly resembles a face looking towards the figure, and towards the sun, with an echo of a weathered face peering back towards the land from the island on the far side nearest the sea. This interpretation could be a case of pareidolia. Whether the rock faces are intended or not the painting structure supports the parallel, especially in consideration of the pentimenti.
Signed lower right ‘HANNAFORD’; plaque on frame, ‘Porth Bridge, Newquay’.
watercolour on paper; framed
HANNAFORD, CHARLES E. English; b. 1863 21 Oct, 1955, England DBA; Landscape painter, Studied under Stanhope Forbes and in Paris, RBA, 1916. Add: The Mumbles, Swansea 1897; Plymouth 1902; East Grimstead, Sussex 1913; London 1916; Stalham, Norwich, Norfolk 1927. EXHIBITED: Manchester City Art Gallery; Royal Academy; Royal Society of British Artists; Royal Cambrian Academy; Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours; Walker’s Gallery, London.
