Lot 117: Arthur Melville, ARSA RSW ARS (British, 1855-1904) Invertrossachs 37 x 54.5 cm. (14 9/16 x 21 7/16 in.)

Invertrossachs
signed 'A Melville', inscribed with title, dated 1895, and dedicated 'To Philippa Strachey' (lower left)
watercolour
37 x 54.5 cm. (14 9/16 x 21 7/16 in.)

PROVENANCE:
Philippa Strachey
James and Alexandra Strachey
Lucy Norton O.B.E.
Private collection, a gift from the above

EXHIBITED:
Memorial Exhibition, Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour, 1906, no. 66

LITERATURE:
Mackay, AE, Arthur Melville, Scottish Impressionist, Leigh on Sea, 1951, p. 135

Melville executed some of his finest and most spontaneous Scottish landscapes in the early 1890's, revelling in the seasonal colours to produce such as Autumn, Loch Lomond (Kelvingrove, Glasgow), and Brig O'Turk (Robertson Collection).
Invertrossachs may have been the home of James Cox, Dundee jute baron and patron of Melville. Philippa became known as a feminist activist and organiser.