302. A Painting by the Father of Ricketts

After many blogs about the mother of Charles Ricketts, there is some news about his father. Not much though. A painting came up for auction in Birmingham. Fellows Auctioneers had it for sale in their auction of 9 May.

Charles Robert Ricketts, 'Stormy coastal scene' (undated)

The painting has seen better days. It is in quite a rough state. The auctioneer describes it as follows:

A stormy coastal scene, with French steam tug approaching a French fishing boat, both flying the tricouleur, oil on canvas laid down onto plyboard, signed to a piece of driftwood lower left, 23 x 34, (58.5cm x 86cm), in flower- and shell-decorated giltwood and gesso frame. Has been cleaned - some layers of paint lost. Evidence of some creasing/cracking to canvas which has been mitigated by laying onto plyboard in recent years

Not particularly a must-have, but the seascape is exactly the kind of work that Ricketts's father excelled in: stormy waves and ships in distress. 

His signature is on a piece of driftwood, as if another vessel recently had not survived in similar circumstances, predicting a rough ending for the ship in the centre of the picture, notwithstanding a close-by steam boat coming to the rescue.

Signature by Charles Robert Ricketts

Initially, the estimate was low (£0 - £200), but, the auction approaching, it was raised to:  £200 - £300.