Beschreibung:

Artist: Sir John Lavery RA RHA RSA (1856-1941) Title: The House of Walter Harris at Tangier Signature: Signed lower right, J Lavery/To WALTER HARRIS Medium: oil on canvas-board Size: 23 x 34½cm (9.1 x 13.6in) Framed Size: 37.7 x 49cm (14.8 x 19.3in) Provenance: Sotheby's London, 19 June 1996, lot 34; James Adam & Sons, 3 December 2014, lot 6, wherein entitled 'A Moorish Garden'; Private Collection Exhibited: London, Goupil Gallery, John Lavery RSA, RHA, 1908, no 27, as The House of Walter Harris at Tangier Literature: Selwyn Brinton MA, 'Recent Paintings by John Lavery RSA, RHA', The Studio, Vol XLV, 1908, p. 178 (illus), as The House of Walter Harris at Tangier a#morebtn { color: #de1d01; } a#morebtn:hover { cursor: pointer;} In 1894, on receipt of a legacy, Walter B Harris embarked upon an ambitious building project east of the Medina and close to what is now Plage Malabata at Tangier. The result was a resplendent Moorish villa, set in palatial gardens. Adjacent to the main building was a small fountain, a gathering pla... Read more In 1894, on receipt of a legacy, Walter B Harris embarked upon an ambitious building project east of the Medina and close to what is now Plage Malabata at Tangier. The result was a resplendent Moorish villa, set in palatial gardens. Adjacent to the main building was a small fountain, a gathering place for guests at one of the Harris soirées. Since the nearby beach was a thoroughfare for tribesmen visiting the souk, during construction of the garden, The Times correspondent found it a useful location for picking up intelligence on the movements of local warlords. In a lighter vein he would converse itinerant traders and farmers describing their customs, colourful attire and good humour (see Walter B Harris, 'In a Moorish Garden', The Saturday Review, 2 April 1898, pp.456-7). Two small garden elevation sketches of the house by Lavery are known - the present being that shown at the Goupil Gallery in 1908 and later signed and inscribed to Harris. According to Brinton, the figure braiding her hair (?), is that of the writer's servant. The second garden sketch includes the two vicious white peacocks who regarded the garden as their private domain, much to the dismay of the reporter's more nervous visitors. Both sketches are likely to have been painted at the same time, c. 1906-7, when Harris, RB Cunninghame Graham and the artist visited Fez together. Contemporary photographs of the garden in Lady deGrey's scrapbook and elsewhere, confirm the identification of the house which, sadly, has fallen into disrepair. Kenneth McConkey, November 2020