Frank WASLEY
(Peckham 1854 - Henley-on-Thames 1930)
Venetian Canal Scene
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Pen and black ink and black and grey wash, with touches of watercolour and gouache.
Signed with initials FW in gouache at the lower left.
A study of a moonlit landscape with a tree in black and white chalk on grey paper, on the backing sheet.
Inscribed Venice FW on the backing sheet.
241 x 102 mm. (9 1/2 x 4 in.)
Signed with initials FW in gouache at the lower left.
A study of a moonlit landscape with a tree in black and white chalk on grey paper, on the backing sheet.
Inscribed Venice FW on the backing sheet.
241 x 102 mm. (9 1/2 x 4 in.)
As the artist himself noted of his technique, ‘Where an effect is desired, either storm, repose, light, or shade, I rough in my darks, never sparing my medium – plenty of it on the paper. With the hand and ball of the thumb I work up the masses. With the exception of a leather stump and crumb of bread, nothing further is required.’
Born in Peckham in south London, Frank Wasley was a painter, watercolourist and draughtsman who specialized in coastal landscapes, marine subjects and seascapes, with a particular penchant for atmospheric views of Venice. Trained as a musician, he only took up painting and drawing around 1875, without the benefit of any formal artistic education. A great admirer of Turner, Wasley was mainly active between 1880 and 1914, exhibiting at the Royal Academy and in various provincial galleries. One of his first exhibited works, Evening on the Esk, was purchased by the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool.
