Old Castletown
Date made: early 20th century
Artist: Fairless, Beatrice Annie
Description: Old Castletown showing the junction of School Lane and Chapel Lane, and the North East gable of the old Grammar School in the left foreground of the painting.
Beatrice Annie Fairless was born in 1883, in Somerset. The family moved to live on the Isle of Man when Fairless was young, as her father was working as a Methodist minister in Castletown and her mother worked for many years as the manager of Martin’s Bank in Ramsey. Fairless attended the Douglas School of Art between 1901 and 1907, inspiring her to paint many works of art - which often depicted local scenes and people's daily lives. Fellow artist, William Hoggatt, took interest in Fairless’s art - and they painted together regularly whilst she entered into exhibitions.
It is reported that Fairless suffered from arthritis for much of her later life. Constance Radcliffe, a contemporary to Fairless, described her as 'a thin little lady, pale and rather stooped' in her later life. However, Fairless was also described by the Ramsey Courier as ‘extremely bright and cheerful and a most pleasant personality to meet’. She died at the family home in 1943 and the Isle of Man Courier remembered her as 'an artist of considerable ability…her water colourings of Manx scenes were a real delight to the eye'. In 1950 her sister, Maud Fairless, gave many of her paintings to friends and acquaintances in Ramsey when she moved lodgings. It can be presumed there are many still in houses in Castletown to this day. One of Fairless’s most prominent paintings depicts The White House at Hango Hill, c.1910.
Measurements: h 56cm w 44.5cm (sight)
Materials: watercolour on paper
Object name: painting
Collection: Art Collection
ID number: 1955-0163
Subject tags : #artgalleryplace
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