WILLIAM LIONEL WYLLIE (BRITISH 1851-1931)THE FLOWING RIVER WINDS PAST PALACE, PARK, AND THE HOMES OF TOILING MILLIONSOil on canvas122 x 183.5cm (48 x 72in.)Provenance:Malcolm Henderson Gallery, London, 1973Exhibited:London, Royal Academy, 1924, no. 333Greenwich, London, Woodlands Art Gallery (see Quarm & Wyllie, p.125)Literature:Pall Mall Pictures, 1924, illustrated p.43M. A. Wyllie, We Were One - A Biography of W.L. Wyllie, 1935, p.293 (where the two versions are confused)Roger Quarm and John Wyllie, W. L. Wyllie: Marine Artist 1851 - 1931, 2007, listed p.125Exhibited by Wyllie in 1924, The Flowing River Winds Past Palace, Park, and the Homes of Toiling Millions together with another submission from the same year, The Towers, Spires and Bridges of our City, depicts London as a modern city steeped in history driven by human interaction, groundbreaking architecture and industrial innovation. Not only that, but Wyllie was also painting is home. Being born in London himself in 1851, despite relocating to Portsmouth in 1906, he continued to paint scenes along the Thames in the city he loved until well into the 1920s.The present lot was based upon several watercolour sketches (see examples in the collection of the National Maritime Museum, London). It is likely that at least some of these sketches were made in January 1924, when Wyllie was staying at the Ship Hotel in Greenwich.Another, slightly smaller version of this painting entitled A View from Greenwich was presented by Wyllie to Greenwich Town Hall (now in the collection of Greenwich Heritage Centre). Both paintings relate closely to a contemporary etching entitled The Thames from Greenwich Park, Looking North-West.The view in The Flowing River Winds Past Palace, Park, and the Homes of Toiling Millions is looking west to the city of London, with St Paul's Cathedral and Tower Bridge visible on the horizon. The high aerial vantage is from slightly east of the Royal Observatory, which occupies the lower left corner. Beyond the observatory are the spires of St Mary's and St Alfege (on the left, demolished in 1936). On the right of the painting a three-masted ship is being towed upstream by a tug, heading towards Sir Christopher Wren's magnificent Royal Naval College, where it will likely continue past the dockyards of the Isle of Dogs and on to Deptford Reach. Much of the centre of the composition is taken up by the college, the former Dreadnought Hospital to its west on Romney Road and to the east the Royal Hospital School College (now the National Maritime Museum). Queen's House is at the centre with the drill ship 'Fame' on the parade ground to the north. (The third drill ship of this name to occupy the front of the Queen's House since 1843, built in 1872-3 by Green's of Blackwall, the last great builders of Indiamen). On the riverfront to the west of the college's twin domes can be seen the lawns of Pepys Walk, beyond which is the bulk of the riverside Ship Hotel (no longer extant) beside the cupola of the Greenwich Foot Tunnel built in 1902 - its northern counterpart can be seen amongst the heavy industry of the dockyards and factories. William Lionel Wyllie (1851 - 1931), was arguably one of the most prolific and distinguished maritime artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His passion for the sea extended beyond painting it, and he was a keen sailor who frequently raced a 14-foot international dinghy which he himself designed. When it came to painting and sailing, Wyllie would partake whatever the weather. In his book, the artist's grandson recalls a time in 1924, when Wyllie worked through a storm whilst it flooded the ground floor studio at his house in Portsmouth. Wyllie resorted to painting in bare feet whilst his daughter and grandson bailed out the water which was pouring through the teak doors for over three hours (Quarm & Wyllie, p.18).In addition to exhibiting at institutions including the Royal Academy, Royal Institute, the New English Art Club and Grosvenor Gallery, from 1906, Wyllie became closely associated with the Royal Navy and when he died in 1931, he was buried with full naval honours.His work is in collections at the Tate, Royal Academy, Imperial War Museum, and the National Maritime Museum.
Oil on canvas

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