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Ken Messer (1931 - 2018)
Magdalen Bridge (1974)
Watercolour 24 x 27 cm Signed and dated lower right. The painter and draughtsman Ken Messer is closely related to Oxford and its architecture in several ways. Born in Newport, South Wales, he was educated at the City of Oxford High School for Boys in Oxford, and then spent six years working as an accountant in Oxford. He then joined British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) as a steward, flying internationally. Injury due to a car accident during the 1960s meant that he joined the design department of Pergamon Press in Oxford at the age of 33. Six years later, he was appointed to the position of studio manager, in charge of art and design. In 1974, Messer left Pergamon Press to become a freelance graphic designer. He started painting more watercolours, becoming a full-time artist. During the 1980s, his ink drawings were regularly published in the Oxford Times. He has sometimes been called "The Oxford Artist" because of his large number of works depicting Oxford. He and his wife Dilys lived at first in Richmond upon Thames and then in Abingdon, just south of Oxford. Messer's work has been shown at the Mall Galleries for the annual exhibitions of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours annual exhibitions. Condition: very good. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Click here for more views of Magdalen College, Oxford. -
James Basire II (1769 - 1822) after Edward Dayes (1763 - 1804)
Magdalen Tower and Bridge etc. (1797)
Engraving 35 x 44 cm An engraving illustrating the pinnacles of Magdalen Tower and the Bridge below. James Basire II was a British engraver, son of James Basire I, also a celebrated engraver. In 1802 he became Engraver to the Society of Antiquaries. Edward Dayes was an English watercolour painter and mezzotint engraver. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1786, when he showed a portrait and views of Waltham Cross and Canterbury. In the three following years he exhibited both miniatures and landscapes. He continued to exhibit at the Academy regularly until the year of his death, contributing a total of 64 works. He also exhibited at the Society of Artists, and worked as draughtsman to the Duke of York and Albany. Condition: generally good; some age toning within margins. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Click here for other views of Magdalen College, Oxford. -
Fred Taylor (1875 - 1963)
Magdalen Tower from Magdalen Bridge
Watercolour 25 x 37 cm Signed lower left. Fred Taylor captures the indomitable features of Magdalen Tower. The spire rises into a pale sky as undergraduates stream past the entrance to the Porter's Lodge. An old-fashioned car drives up the High.This watercolour of Magdalen was a design for the front cover of a guidebook about Oxford.Fred Taylor was a London-born painter and poster designer. He studied at the Académie Julian in Paris, and Goldsmiths’ in London, later travelling to Italy on a scholarship to study art. He produced many poster designs for railway and shipping firms and was an official camoufleur during the Second World War. He exhibited at the Royal Academy.Condition: very good. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Click here for other views of Magdalen College, Oxford. -
Pieter van der Aa (1659-1733), after David Loggan (1634–1692)
Magdalen College, Oxford (1727)
Engraving 12 x 16 cm A magnificent eighteenth-century view of Magdalen, engraved by Pieter van der Aa after David Loggan, the noted engraver, draughtsman, and painter. Magdalen was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete, and is considered by many to be Oxford's most beautiful college. The college is organised around five quads; the irregularly shaped St John's Quad is the first on entering the college, and connects to the Great Quad (the Cloister) via the Perpendicular Gothic Founders Tower, which is richly decorated with carvings and pinnacles and has carved bosses in its vault. Chaplain's Quad runs along the side of the Chapel and Hall, to the foot of the Great Tower. St Swithun's Quad and Longwall Quad (which contains the Library) date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and make up the southwest corner of the college. Pieter van der Aa of Leiden was a Dutch publisher best known for preparing maps and atlases, though he also printed editions of foreign bestsellers and illustrated volumes. He is noted for the many engravings he produced after David Loggan's series of Oxford and Cambridge colleges and costumes. In 1727 Van Der Aa illustrated "Les Delices de la Grande Bretagne & de L'Irelande" by James Beeverell, the book in which this engraving appears. Condition: a small area slightly lacking in ink. If you’d like to know more, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. -
Robert Murdoch Wright (1889-1962)
Magdalen Tower, Magdalen College, Oxford (1910)
Oil on board 35 x 26 cm Signed and dated 1910 Murdoch Wright is best known for his scenes of Egypt, where he travelled and painted widely, see for example this pair sold at Christies. Here he captures Edwardian Oxford with elegantly dressed ladies crossing Magdalen Bridge. Condition: very good; recently cleaned and revarnished. -
David Loggan (1634-1692)
Magdalen College, Oxford (1674)
Engraving, 32 x 42cm Loggan was born to English and Scottish parents, and was baptised in Danzig in 1634. After studying engraving in Danzig with Willem Hondius (1598-1652 or 1658), he moved to London in the late 1650s, going on to produce the engraved title-page for the folio 1662 Book of Common Prayer. He married in 1663 and moved to Nuffield in Oxfordshire in 1665. Loggan was appointed Public Sculptor to the nearby University of Oxford in the late 1660s, having been commissioned to produce bird’s-eye views of all the Oxford colleges. He lived in Holywell Street as he did this. The 'Oxonia Illustrata' was published in 1675, with the help of Robert White (1645-1704). Following its completion, Loggan began work on his equivalent work for Cambridge; the 'Cantabrigia Illustrata' was finally published in 1690, when he was made engraver to Cambridge University. The 'Oxonia Illustrata' also includes an engraving of Winchester College (Winchester and New College share William of Wykeham as their founder) whilst the 'Cantabrigia Illustrata' includes one of Eton College (which shares its founder, Henry VIII, with King’s College). Bird’s-eye views from this era required a particular talent as an architectural perspectivist; it was not until 1783 that it became possible for artists to ascend via hot air balloons and view the scenes they were depicting from above. Loggan thus had to rely on his imagination in conceiving the views. Loggan’s views constitute the first accurate depictions of the two Universities, in many ways unchanged today. Whilst the Oxford engravings were produced in reasonable numbers and ran to a second edition by Henry Overton (on thicker paper and with a plate number in Roman numerals in the bottom right-hand corner), those of Cambridge were printed in much smaller numbers. The Dutchman Pieter van der Aa published some miniature versions of the engravings for James Beverell’s guidebook to the UK, 'Les Delices de la Grande Bretagne' (c. 1708). The contemporary artist Andrew Ingamells (b.1956) has produced a highly-acclaimed series of etchings which bring Loggan’s original vision up to date. Condition: generally very good. If you’d like to know more, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. -
Sir Hugh Casson (1910-1999) Magdalen College Oxford
Unsigned proof print 25x20cm From Casson’s ever-popular Oxford series of prints. Sir Hugh Casson was educated at Eastbourne College, St John’s College Cambridge and the Bartlett School of Architecture. Trained in the 1930s in the early modernist style, he taught at the Cambridge School of Architecture. After employment as a camoufleur during World War 2 by the Air Ministry, in 1948 he was appointed as director of architecture for the Festival of Britain. A close friend of the Royal Family, he undertook designs for the 1953 coronation, designed the interior of the Royal Yacht Britannia (“The overall idea was to give the impression of a country house at sea”), and taught the Prince of Wales to paint in watercolours. Amongst his architectural achievements are the Elephant House at London Zoo, the 1978 redevelopment of Bristol Docks, the Raised Faculty Building for The University of Cambridge, and a building for the Royal College of Art. He published a number of illustrated books, of which Casson’s Oxford and Casson’s Cambridge are probably the best known. A limited edition series of prints was produced from the paintings. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Condition: Excellent. -
Fred Mayor (British, 1865-1916)
Magdalen College, Oxford
Watercolour and pencil 12x15" In this painting, Mayor catches Magdalen in his usual impressionistic style, with an effective use of splashes of colour and careful use of lighting. Born near Ripon in Yorkshire, Mayor was educated at St Edmund's School Canterbury where he excelled both at drawing and cricket. The former became his profession and he began with a studio in Chiswick shared with Frank Brangwyn. In 1886 he followed the well-trodden path of spending time in Paris, studying at the Academie Julian, and also meeting Wilson Steer and Walter Sickert who influenced his work and were lifelong friends of his. In 1888 at the age of just twenty-one a painting of his was accepted at the Royal Academy of Arts. In 1899 he moved to join the artists' colony in Staithes, Yorkshire, where other artists included Harold and Dame Laura Knight. He met, and subsequently married, another artist - Sheffield-born Hannah Hoyland. Married life began by eloping to Montreuil-sur-Mer in northern France where Mayor developed his characteristic impressionistic style. He died in 1916 whilst undergoing a routine operation for asthma, which was required before he could become a war artist. -
Sir Hugh Casson (1910-1999)
Magdalen Bridge Oxford
Lithographic print unsigned. Provenance: the artist’s estate. 28 x 35 cm (11 x 14 in) From Casson’s ever-popular Oxford series of prints. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. For biographical details and other works by the artist click here. -
George Frederick Nicholls (1850-1935)
Magdalen College from the Cherwell, Oxford
Watercolour 37x24cm Early twentieth century. Born in Great Saughall in Cheshire - and dying in Chester - he subsequently lived in Worcestershire and Oxfordshire. Many of his paintings are of the Cotswolds and Oxford, and he is best known for his topographical paintings. He painted the illustrations for a series of county books for A & C Black, including Cornwall (1915) and Cotswolds (1920). If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. -
James Greig (1861-1941)
Magdalen College, Oxford
Watercolour 28 x 38.5cm (11 x 15 in.) Greig was born in Arbroath, moving in 1891 to London to study art and furthering his education in Paris between 1895 and 1896. Returning to London he produced magazine illustrations for publications such as Punch and The Sketch in black and white. He was art critic for the Morning Post, showing his skills at writing as an historian, also editing the diaries of the landscape painter Joseph Farington (1747-1821) and publishing articles on Gainsborough and Raeburn. Elected Member of the Royal Society of British Artists in 1898 he was renowned for his colourful landscapes of the middle east and his views of Oxford. He also designed posters for Union Castle Line and P&O. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. -
Robert Tavener (1920-2004) Magdalen College, Oxford (artist’s proof) Signed Screenprint 69×48 cm (27.1×18.8 inches) Framed in a gilt frame Click here for biographical details and other works by the artist. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. -
Richard Beer (1928-2017)
Magdalen Bridge, Oxford (1964-65)
Signed, titled and numbered 56/150 Etching and aquatint 57.5 x 44cm Click here for biography and other works by this artist. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Condition: Good.
