James Howe Carse
Landscape near Bolton – The new church at Lever Bridge, c1844
James Howe Carse
oil on canvas
A paper label on reverse is inscribed in ink with title, and 'J. Carse' and 'Bought Septr. 1844'
45 x 60 cms
$16,000 including GST
Provenance:
With W.H. Patterson Fine Art, Albemarle Street, London, UK (label verso); Chilmark Manor Estate; Semley Auctioneer, Shaftesbury, UK, January 23, 2016, lot 87; private collection, Sydney.
Literature:
For a biographical essay on the artist see 'James Howe Carse’, by Stephen Scheding, in 'Art and Australia', vol. 17, no. 1, 1979, p.9.
This is one of the finest works from Carse's pre-Australian period. It depicts the Church of St Stephen and All Martyrs at Lever Bridge, Bolton, Greater Manchester, which was built 1842-1844 at a cost of £2,600 and consecrated in 1845. It was designed by architect Edmund Sharpe and was constructed largely of terracotta. Sharpe designed the only three churches to be built with this material, the others being Holy Trinity, Rusholme, and St Paul's, Scotforth. Originally the church had an openwork spire, as shown in the painting, but by the 1930s the spire had become unsafe and was dismantled in 1937.
Prior to Carse’s departure for Australia, where he plays a significant role in the history of Australian art, he appears to have been working in and around B ... Read More »