Fauve French Chateau, the Enchanted Castle, Ca 1940 Walter Sickert Student Wendela Boreel Oil on Canvas

Having been lucky enough to acquire a number of paintings by Wendela Boreel (1886-1985) from her late son's estate, I feel I have grown to understand her work. The defining characteristic is that it is enchanting: Wendela's art is quite impossible to resist.

Wendela's personality probably was, too: as Walter Sickert said of her: “You are the goddamnest, tiresome little cat living. But I love you all the same.”

Wendela Boreel loved the South of France, and her art displays all the warmth of the mediterranean. Here is an enchanted French chateau which seems to be glowing in the sudden strong sunlight that has occurred just after a rainstorm.

Wendela was a master colourist, and individual sections of the paintings - in the sky, for example - would hold their own as abstract compositions. Born in France in 1886 to an American mother and a Dutch diplomat father, Wendela came to live in England when her father was posted to London. The family had a home on Tite Street, just up the road from Oscar Wilde’s house. Wendela became friends with her neighbour, the patron of the arts Frank Schuster, and moved in the circles of John Singer Sargent, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Edward Elgar, W.B. Yeates, Thomas Hardy and Roger Fry. Wendela studied at the Slade School of Art, and attended Walter Sickert’s evening classes. As her outstanding talent manifested itself, she soon became Sickert's protegé and assistant. Her first solo exhibition was in 1919 at Walker's Gallery, and she would subsequently exhibit at the New English Art Club, the Allied Artist’s Association, and with the London Group.

Works by Wendela Boreel are held in the Government Art Collection, the V&A as well as in the British Museum in the UK. The Museum of Modern Art MOMA in New York also possesses a work by her. For further information on the artist, please request the Skippings Fine Art Newsletter No 13, which was dedicated to Wendela Boreel and her work.

This is the very last painting by her that we hold. It is unsigned, but its authenticity is guaranteed unconditionally. A COA can be issied. Measuring 64 x 54 cm , the overall framed size of this oil on canvas is 78 x 67 cm.

Nous parlons français, und wir sprechen auch Deutsch! Paintings may be viewed in Norwich and in Paris, as well as in London and Cambridge by appointment. Please contact us if you would like further details and images of an artwork.