HENRY SCOTT TUKE – SAMWELL SITTING IN A BLUE DUG OUT
Tuke painted the present work on 10th January 1924, and recorded the following entry in his diary:
‘Out with Samwell and Ralph again and went further on – nearly got a small nurse shark with the paddle, it was struck several times but eventually got away. Landed and did a good study of Samwell sitting in a bluish dugout, with flickering shadows from overhanging trees. Worked hard at it all afternoon at home.’
Unable to resist an adventure, Tuke was 67 when, in November 1923, he set sail for Jamaica on the Fyffe banana-ship, S.S. Coronado; part of an expedition funded by the author and explorer Lilian, Lady Richmond Brown and including Fredrick Albert Mitchell-Hedges a fellow explorer whom Tuke met at a Lecture in Falmouth. Mitchell-Hedges is perhaps best remembered for claiming to have discovered a crystal skull in Belize in 1924, but failing to mention the artefact until the 1940s, following the sale of a strikingly similar crystal skull at Sotheby’s in October 1943; modern testing of the skull has revealed the markings of modern machinery rather than Mayan tools.
This illustrious party docked in Port Royal on 10th
December before travelling the 100 miles or so to the Black River. Tuke spent the following two months painting numerous oils and watercolours of the local landscape and people. Samuel, known as Samwell, was one of his favourite models, whom he described as an ‘…interesting type. Looks like a fierce savage but as gentle as a dove.’ Samwell appeared in several works, most notably, Black River Boatmen, Jamaica, an oil begun on 9th
January, the day before the present work, which went on to be exhibited at The Royal Academy in 1925, no.500, and sold at Christies 2nd-16th
December 2021, lot 97, for £30,000 hammer.
Tuke skilfully captures a charmingly uncontrived moment as his subject stares, unselfconsciously, out to sea, the dappled light and heat are beautifully and deftly rendered, strongly evoking the unique atmosphere of the Caribbean.
Bellmans are delighted to be offering this and three watercolours by Tuke, Wood boats from Dalmatia, Venice, Sailing Ships at Anchor and Custom House Quay, Falmouth in the forthcoming sale of Old Master, British & European Art on 26th March, along with works by Maria Tuke, Arthur Briscoe, Rowland Wright Alston and Dudley Kibbler, all from an important private collection.
