There is one historic painting that is synonymous with Wales and the Welsh culture and that is the Edwardian watercolour Salem painted, strange as it may seem, by an Englishman Sydney Curnow Vosper.
I first saw a copy of the painting when I was around 18 , where it was proudly displayed in the house of an old girlfriend of mine. Her father was a Welsh Minister and the subject matter, the arrival (late) of a welsh woman Siân Owen to chapel is iconic for it is a depiction of Welsh religious piety as well as a beautiful rendition of Welsh traditional dress.
It’s also more famous for it’s suggested depiction of the devil’s face, hidden in the folds of Siân’s rather luxurious shawl. This “ hidden” message was only one of three or so said to present in the painting .
The clock on the wall hints that Siân’s entry to her family pew is late and and it’s is said that her beautifully adorned entrance is a comment about pride and ostentatious dress.
If you look closely there is also a ghostly face at the chapel window too.
I have seen the painting at the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight a few years ago so I understood the reference to the artist and to Siân Owen when villager elder Gwyneth Jones once stood in my front room waiting for me to wrap her some duck eggs into a brown paper bag and I remember well that she pointed to my grandfather clock and said in her thin welsh voice
“ It’s the clock in the painting “ she explained “ The sister painting to Salem”
The painting she was referring to is “ A Market Day in Old Wales” which shows Siân Owen unpacking eggs and provisions in her welsh country kitchen and in the corner is my Grandfather clock complete with scrolls and pillars
The Clock’s scrolls are hidden by the beams
:
My cottage ceiling is somewhat higher but still shows the beams
They say don't they - whatever happens has already happened x
ReplyDeleteI've seen that painting, too, at the Lady Lever Art Gallery, and I seem to remember it being featured on Antiques Road Trip. I love your long case clock, particularly the scrolls. The deep, slow ticking is soothing, isn't it? xx
ReplyDeleteLol it’s never worked and I can’t afford to get it done ..it was a constant at two of my friends family house in the 1980s and when their parents passed away I bought the clock from their estate
DeleteOh well. One day perhaps! I have several clocks which don't work, but I love the look of them. Objets d'art rather than functional! xx
DeleteMy kitchen clock ticks loudly and is a great stand in
DeleteI have my father's old school clock..it was worth getting it overhauled..the tick is the heartbeat of the house
ReplyDeleteAn interesting post, altho, I don't see the hidden faces in the picture. Why do they wear the very tall hats?
ReplyDeleteYour clock is lovely!
It's a beautiful clock. And thanks for the art history lesson! All new to me!
ReplyDeleteLove your long case clock! Have you ever opened the back of the clock to see if there are instruction inside? I inherited the mantle clock from my grandmother's home and - to our surprise - when the back was opened, glued inside were the original instructions for winding and everything else.
ReplyDeleteHugs!
I've no fancy clocks -but I am aware of the power of some - When I had arranged to
ReplyDeleteWhen I was sitting on the sofa at home awaiting the arranged time to visit my mum (who would be laying in a coffin) the evening before her funeral at the funeral parlour -I looked towards the clock which had stopped and saw it working again-it was my mum who usually brought me a new battery x
DeleteThe clocks are identical! She was canny to have clocked it, haha.
ReplyDeleteShe was a canny old bird
DeleteYour clock appears identical and very lovely. Cloaks carry drama. I've only known one man that enjoyed wearing a cloak. It did draw attention on the streets of Boston, Massachusetts.
ReplyDeleteIt’s originally from the same neck of the woods
DeleteI believe that the singer Caruso's mother would ALWAYS arrive late for church, just so the congregation should notice the difference in the quality of the singing. My clock is very much a poor relation to yours; no scroll and no pillars.
ReplyDeleteLol you can always tell a welsh funeral by the quality of the singing
DeleteI have always loved your Grandfather clock! Those paintings are wonderful and the hidden pictures in the first one very interesting.
ReplyDeleteThe artist denied the hidden meanings
DeleteI like the 3 legged table used because of the wonky floors in old houses
ReplyDeleteVery witch like isn’t it ?
DeleteThe clock face and the scrolls are lovely. Maybe you could take it to somewhere like the "Repair Shop" and they would mend the mechanism for you. But it's striking just as it is.
ReplyDeleteI’ve always wanted it to work , but like most country pieces that always stood on a stone floor that was washed with a mop, much of the base has rottted away
DeleteI have always admired that clock whenever you’ve shared a photo. How exceptional that it does exactly match the one in the painting. Will you ever buy a print? (I assume the original is out of the question.)
ReplyDeleteYes the original is in the National collection of Wales
DeleteIt's the skew (settle) in the second picture that's getting to me. I'd be sat wedged between it and our big table, with a pile of colouring books, and told to stay put for however long - a bit like a baby-pen. I've no idea where it is now, probably left behind when we had to move into town, although there were others in my childhood.
ReplyDeleteAt one time they were worth a fortune
DeleteTraditional Welsh country life doesn't look very attractive to me, but then again I am stuck in the 90s. :)
ReplyDelete