Western Morning News (Saturday)
A chance to see some ‘Jewels in the Crown’
Frank Ruhrmund sees an aptly-entitled exhibition at Penlee House Gallery & Museum, Penzance
It was just 25 years ago that the major refurbishment of Penlee House Gallery & Museum in Penzance was completed: a quarter century milestone which is now being celebrated there with the aptly-entitled exhibition Jewels in the Crown. Although having been already famous for several years for its collection of paintings by the Newlyn School of Artists, since 1997 its collection of art and artefacts has expanded significantly, and this exhibition takes a fresh look at all that is to be found within and on the walls of Penlee House, from paintings and social history to archaeological artefacts and photographs, such as the acclaimed Gibson collection. All acquisitions have been funded either by the V&A Purchase Grant Fund, the Art Fund, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and the Friends of Penlee House, or by private donations and bequests. It is worth remembering that Penlee House Gallery & Museum is owned and operated by Penzance Council, which means that, as Katie Herbert its Director points out, “Everything it contains belongs to the public, and we are hoping that as many people as possible will come to see and enjoy this show. It has been most enjoyable revisiting the collection, and being able to celebrate the generosity of everyone concerned, from public funders and private donors to the Friends of Penlee House.”
From Stanhope Forbes’ Abbey Slip and Elizabeth Forbes’ The Pied Piper, to Norman Garstin’s The Rain it Raineth Every Day and Frank Gascoigne Heath’s Game of Cut-Throat Euchre, there are so many jewels on offer here it is hard to know where to begin or end. I know I fell for the sparkle of T C
Gotch’s Ruby. Probably a study of young Ruby Bone, a Newlyn maid, this was also probably because I’m a Bucca, but I also loved the 19th century photograph of the Round House at Crows-an-Wra. Built in circular fashion, it denied the Devil any corners to hide in. Not sure what this suggests about me.
Then, too, I can’t help regretting that despite having “stanked” all over Penwith throughout the years, I was never lucky enough to come across such treasures as an 18th century gold posy ring found at St Just, a hoard of 1,965 Gallic Empire coins, a silver gilt dress pin or even a medieval greenstone.
On a more serious note, I also liked John Opie’s Portrait of an Old Jew, a reminder of the Jewish colony once resident in Penzance, several of whom were buried in the town’s Jewish cemetery, and I can’t leave without mention of Maria Dorothy Webb Robinson’s Three Fishers went Sailing out into the West. Made in 1895, and inspired by Charles Kingsley’s poem The Three Fishers, it is linked with the knowledge held by Victorians on the dangers of the sea,
of storms and drownings.
‘Jewels in the Crown’ can be seen at Penlee House Gallery & Museum, Penzance, from 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday, until May 4.