Lucy Kemp - Welch was living in Albert Cottages at the bottom of Clay Hill in Bushey , Hertfordshire , during 1894 and it was by chance that she saw, from her window a group of horses going up the muddy road to Barnet Fair. She actually wrote about what happened and said
“ They were shepherded and driven by wild-looking gypsy men on horseback, with frequent rushes to prevent the outliers from getting through the gates or turning up the side lanes. “
She went on to explain how she rushed out of the house with her palette and part of the wooden slide from her paint box to draw on and ran after the group which had stopped on a green by the pubic house .
” There I made a lightening sketch of the scene- my long training of quick sketches in the street helping greatly” .
This initial drawing developed into what was to become her first submission to the Royal Academy exhibition titled “ Gypsy Horse Drovers”, received much acclaim and was hung in choice position just over ‘the line’. Both the sketch and the huge exhibition work are now in the Russell-Cotes collection and available for the nation to see and having visited last year I can say the painting is well worth a viewing.
What was , however , unknown until last year is the whereabouts of the preliminary sketches that were made by Lucy before they were worked up into the exhibition oil . These pieces, once they had been used for the Royal Academy submission piece, were placed into a personal album and gifted to her cousin . These have remained in the Kemp-Welch family collection since that time and never seen publicly. They have now been professionally conserved and cleaned and are an amazing record of the process from initial drawing to finished work .
Gouache drawing of the Grey in Gypsy Horse Drovers
The finding of the original sketches has really been a highlight for us this year and now they have been conserved we are very much looking forward to being able to exhibit them for all to see in this coming year of 2021. We will keep you all updated on developments in the next few months and will be publishing another blog in the next few weeks . Next time we will reveal some of the preliminary sketches for other Lucy Kemp-Welch exhibition oils but in the mean time Melanie and I would like to wish you all a very happy and safe New Year.
Mark & Mel