It's always worth looking at the back...

January 28 2015

Image of It's always worth looking at the back...

Picture: BBC/Scottish Gallery

Here's nice discovery story from my neck of the woods; the Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh has discovered a lost work (above) by the Scottish colourist Francis Cadell, which had been painted over by the son of another colourist, Samuel Peploe. Says the BBC:

The lost Cadell work was painted around 1909 from his studio at 112 George Street, Edinburgh, and looks across the street to Charlotte Square. When the artist died in 1937, his sister Jean Percival Clark, well-known as the actress Jean Cadell, came up to Edinburgh to sort out his affairs.

She was helped by Denis Peploe, son of Samuel, who was a student at Edinburgh College of Art. She gifted him some of her brother's art material and included among the canvases, probably including "George Street and Charlotte Square", taken off its stretcher, turned and re-stretched ready to be used again.

It is not known why Cadell abandoned the painting, which is finished and bears a strong signature.

Years later, Denis Peploe painted his own picture, Begonias, a still life on a trestle table and whitewashed over the Cadell exposed on the other side.

The Scottish Gallery acquired the Denis Peploe and in the process of conservation discovered the Cadell on the reverse.

And in a final twist, the director of the Scottish Gallery is Guy Peploe, Denis Peploe's son. 

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