λ TERENCE CUNEO (BRITISH 1907-1996), CASTLE ON THE COAST: MONMOUTH CASTLE EMERGING FROM A TUNNEL

拍品描述

λ TERRENCE CUNEO (BRITISH 1907-1996) CASTLE ON THE COAST: MONMOUTH CASTLE EMERGING FROM A SEA WALL TUNNEL, DAWLISH, DEVON Oil on canvas Signed and dated July 1970 (lower left) and with artist's mouse motif (to wall centre right) 61 x 104cm (24 x 40¾in.) Unframed Literature:Terence Cuneo, The Mouse & His Master, New Cavendish Books, London, 1977, illustrated on p.176. The present work features the GWR Castle Class locomotive No. 5037, known as Monmouth Castle, emerging from the sea wall tunnel at Dawlish. It was published as a limited edition print of 500 in 1973. Writing in The Mouse & His Master Cuneo recalled: Castle on the Coast; A childhood memory with a vengeance. Coming back to my home in Cornwall from boarding school I would stand eagerly at the carriage window, waiting for the train to rush out of a certain tunnel west of Dawlish and expose to my delighted gaze the famous 'Old Man Rock'.... My Rock - the 'hols' had started! Of course the picture had to be in 'Great Western' days and the engine had to be 'Monmouth Castle', as this was the locomotive I rode whilst making sketches. Cuneo was the son of artist parents, Cyrus Cincinato Cuneo and Nell Marion Tenison, who met while studying with Whistler in Paris. Terrence Cuneo studied at Sutton Valence School in Kent, Chelsea Polytechnic and the Slade School of Art and initially worked as a commercial artist for publications such as The Illustrated London News. During World War II he served as a Sapper in the Royal Engineers and was commissioned by the Foreign Office to produce anti-Nazi drawings and cartoons which were used as propaganda. He also completed illustrations of tank and aircraft factories for the War Artists Advisory Committee.After the war, Cuneo became popular as a society portrait painter and in 1952 was commissioned to paint the Visit of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh to the Department of Engineering. It was his official painting of the Coronation of Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey in 1953 which brought public recognition. He painted Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip several times in both formal and informal settings.Cuneo became the pre-eminent military painter of his time fulfilling commissions for many varied Regiments of the British Army. He depicted conflicts through the ages ranging from the 17th Century to the Falklands War in 1982, often recreating famous battle scenes in his local Oxshott Woods using serving soldiers and real military hardware.His signature moniker of a mouse became his trademark after 1956, and came from the tribute he painted to the little mouse his cat presented to him as a gift one day. This led to a series of humorous 'mouse portraits' where mice were personified as both historical and fictional characters. Cuneo is perhaps best known for his locomotive paintings, he had a deep love of steam trains and often rode on the footplate and in the engine compartment whilst drawing and researching his subjects. His train paintings were turned into advertising posters for British Rail and were also used to advertise Hornby trainsets. In 1985 Royal Mail featured five of his train paintings on a special set of stamps entitled 'Famous Trains'. Cuneo's monumental 6 metre wide, 1967 painting of Waterloo Station stands hangs in the National Railway Museum in York.He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1987 and a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in the 1994 Birthday Honours.

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