Beschreibung:

MAY (THE ARTIST'S WIFE) c.1920-25 William John Leech RHA ROI (1881-1968)
Signature: signed 'LEECH' verso at the base; also with foundry mark, D.A.F. '89 Medium: bronze (no. 4 from an edition of 12) Dimensions: 37 by 34cm., 14.5 by 13.5in. Provenance: Collectioin of the artist; By whom bequeathed to Mr. Alan Denson, poet, author, art historian and friend of Leech by whom it was bequeath; 'An Exhibition of 18th, 19th and 20th Century Irish Paintings, Gorry Gallery, Dublin, 25 November to 8 December 198 Exhibited: 'An Exhibition of 18th, 19th and 20th Century Irish Paintings, Gorry Gallery, Dublin, 25 November - 8 December, 1988, catalogue no. 13, illustrated p.8 Literature: Alan Denson, 'An Irish Artist, W. J. Leech R.H.A. 1881-1968', Kendal, 1968, illustrated plate 5, p. 16; Alan Denson, 'Visual Taste: Catalogue of an Author's Art Collection', Volume 2, Kendal, 1971, catalogue no. 199 This limited edition bronze was cast by the Dublin Art Foundry from the original plaster and is the only example of a sculptural work from the artist’s oeuvre. Until its presentation in 1988 at the Go... orry Gallery this bronze had never before been seen in public. This rare work illustrates Leech’s adaptability into the three dimensional as well as his astute technique, one which sensitively translates his distinct style from canvas to bronze. This bronze is number four from a finite edition of twelve, the original plaster cast having been donated by Mr. Alan Denson, poet, author, art historian and friend of Leech, into a permanent public collection. After 1910 William John Leech made London his home, with annual painting trips to France with Elizabeth Lane, who became his wife in 1912. With the outbreak of the First World War he remained in Brittany with Elizabeth but his marriage, his painting and his finances greatly suffered. When he returned to London at the end of the war in 1918 he met the Botterell family who had just returned from Holland where Percy Botterell, an eminent London lawyer, had been a commercial attaché to The Hague. Percy Botterell’s wife May organised a relief centre for released prisoners of war, providing clothes, money and information on their return home, and there met Leech’s older brother, Cecil. Cecil Leech, who had fought in the First World War as a commissioned officer in the Royal Horse Artillery, spent four years in a prisoner of war camp and worked with May Botterell to ensure the safe return of soldiers in his command. In London he arranged meetings between the Botterell family and the Leech family and from this introduction Percy Botterell commissioned W. J. Leech to paint portraits of himself, his wife, May and his three children, James , Guy and Suzanne. This meeting and the painting of May’s portrait was to change the Botterell family life irrevocably and was to begin the lifelong relationship between May Botterell and W. J. Leech, which culminated in their wedding in 1953, after the death of Percy Botterell in 1951 and Leech’s wife Elizabeth, in 1950. For the entirety of their relationship, since their first encounter in 1920, until her death in July 1965, May remained a constant supporter, companion and muse to Leech more