£1.5m painting to make big impression on home

IT has been acquired for the nation at a cost of £1.5m and will soon be coming home to the north west – but Rochdale will be the loser in the name game.

The impressionist painting of two young girls gazing across a river as they wait for the ferryman, is by William Stott.

He was so proud of his roots he signed himself “of Oldham” because of his pride in his birth town.

It was also to avoid being confused with another artist, Edward Stott, from Rochdale, who confusingly, was christened William.

Edward Stott was known as the ‘poetpainter of the twilight’ who lived from 1859 to 1918.

Tate Britain has bought Stott’s “Le Passeur” (The Ferryman) and the 1.8 metre wide work will go on display there until February 4, 2018.

But it will then go on tour throughout the Britain, including Gallery Oldham.

Stott first studied at Manchester School of Art, then enrolled at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris in the autumn of 1879.

He later arriving at the artists’ colony recently established in the village of Grez-sur-Loing, where he painted “Le Passeur” in 1881. Among the artists working there was Alfred Sisley.

Stott was a leading figure in the group of British artists who came under the influence of French naturalism in the late nineteenth century.

Alison Smith, Tate’s lead curator of British art, said of Stott’s painting: “It is an astonishing work, yet very subtle at the same time,” she said.

“It is a lovely picture to look at and technically it is a tour de force but it is very calming as well, very meditative. We might get people coming here just for five minutes.”

The setting for the work is the River Loire at dusk.

It was shown at the Paris Salon where it received a winning a medal.

The Aberdeen merchant and early photographer John Forbes White bought the painting, and after White, the painting was owned by another Scottish collector and then Lady Elizabeth Longman, a bridesmaid to the Queen.

It has been acquired thanks to gifts from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Art Fund and the Hintze Family Charitable Foundation.

It has gone on display at Tate Britain alongside works by Stott’s contemporaries, including Edward George Stott, ●●William Stott’s masterpiece, “Le Passeur” (The Ferryman) which is coming back to the north west after being bought for the nation at a cost of £1.5m. Clausen Guthrie.

Because it has been privately owned for so long it and James has often been written out of the story of British Impressionism.

Alex Farquharson, Director Tate Britain said: “We are delighted to be showing this significant work at Tate Britain before it tours to St Davids Pembrokeshire, Southampton, the artist’s home town of Oldham and Aberdeen.”