Leon Underwood – View across a Park

Artist: Leon Underwood

Title: View across a Park, 1939

Description: A large original watercolour on RWS watermarked paper, signed by the artist ‘Leon U’ lower right and dated there (19)39. The watercolour appears to be hinged on to a supporting sheet which has then been fixed to a backboard, covered in a hessian type material, which has been painted grey, presumably by the artist. The watercolour is housed in a rather lovely glazed frame dating, we think, from the late 1940s or the 1950s. The outer edges of the frame appear to be finished in silver leaf and the remainder of the frame appears to be hand finished in a brown colour. The frame has some aged related wear and tear which is relatively minor. The watercolour has retained its colours very well indeed. The sheet is undulating somewhat and we haven’t attempted to remove it from the frame, so as not to disturb the originality of it. There are no labels or inscriptions on the reverse of the frame to assist identification. The known history is a private collection in Gloucestershire.

It was in 1939 that Leon Underwood joined the Civil Defence Camouflage unit in Leamington Spa but prior to the outbreak of war he was working in London, producing large watercolours of this size. After further research we now think that this is a London view in mid Summer 1939, possibly a view south east from the edge of Whitehall, SW1, towards Buckingham Palace. There is still a similar looking building in the north east corner of St James’s Park which we haven’t yet been able to identify. Any further opinions as to the location would be received gratefully.

Price: £1,400 including the cost of delivery within the UK mainland. Please enquire of us for costs to other destinations.

Size: About 21.7 x 30.4 inches paper size and about 27.2 x 36.0 inches framed size

Click here for this artist’s biography and further examples