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96
William John Leech RHA ROI (1881-1968)
STEPS OF THE COURS
oil on panel
signed and numbered [2] on reverse; with stamp of ‘Librairie / Meynier’ [L. Rontani, Succ’ / 5 Rue du Palais,
5 & 2, Rue de l’Hôtel de Ville, Nice]; also with a letter relating to the provenance on reverse
9½ x 7¼in. (24.13 x 18.42cm)
The letter affixed to the back of this work was sent from Paddington, 23 March 1988, to Dublin, Éire,
recipient blacked out. This letter describes how the author’s father had worked in Percy Botterell’s firm
of solicitors in London, and that his aunt had been the nanny to May and Percy Botterell’s three children,
Jim, Guy and Suzanne and then nanny to Jim and Eileen Botterell’s two daughters, Gillian and Bridget, in
Burnley, the New Forest and then housekeeper to Percy Botterell in Burnley.
The present work, Steps of the Cours, was probably given as a present to the nanny of the Botterell
children who gave it to the author of the letter who in turn gave it to D &W, the recipients of the letter.
After Leech had painted May Botterell’s portrait in 1919, the couple formed a lasting lifetime attachment
and the trips that they made together to France for Leech to paint the landscape, was to the area in the
South of France, above Nice, in the hillside town of St. Jeannet. Here Leech rented a house for seven years
but afterwards he and May continued to visit the area, staying in Cagnes-sur-mer and then in Grasse
where he painted Steps of the Cours, Grasse.
Leech painted several studies of these steps, which were topped by an urn on a pillar and one of these
works he exhibited in the RHA exhibition in 1930. He also exhibited a work in 1932 Steps of the Cours,
Grasse, in Derby City Council exhibition, sent from his studio at Hamilton Mews, London, NW8. Perhaps
the same work was exhibited in Leech’s first solo exhibition at the Dawson Gallery in 1945. Another work,
Steps to the Cours (p.78, Ferran, illustrated) was purchased by Mrs E.Murray Fuller, a Wellington art Dealer
and exhibited at the Canterbury Society of Arts in May 1936.
This work is a freely painted section of the steps to the Cours with focus only on the urn, on top of the
pillar but it is painted in the harmonious pastel palette Leech used for this subject matter. It is also
painted on the size of small board which Leech used when painting en plein air and which fitted into
his carrying box. These quick studies were frequently used to supply Leech with the necessary detail he
needed to complete larger works in his studio.
Dr Denise Ferran
August 2016
€4000-€6000 (£3420-£5130 approx.)
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