* MADELINE RACHEL WELLS RBA (BRITISH 1879 - 1959),
THE PALACE OF THE POPES, AVIGNON (PALAIS DES PAPES, AVIGNON)
watercolour on paper, signed, titled label
image size 50cm x 65cm, overall size 85cm x 100cm
Mounted, framed and under glass.
Note: Born in India, Madeline Wells studied at Westminster Art School under William Mouat Loudan (1868 - 1925), and at the London School of Art under Sir Frank Brangwyn. She married the artist Robert Douglas Wells, who specialised in landscape and still life painting. They lived in London at St. Albans Studios in Kensington. Madeline Wells became a member of the Royal Society of British Artists in 1915 and was elected a member of the Society of Women Artists in 1923. She exhibited widely over a period of more than thirty years at prestigious venues including The Grosvenor Gallery (London), the Royal Academy and the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. Examples of Madeline Wells paintings rarely appear at auction but Christie's (London) sold "Labours of the Vine" by her on 18th November 2015 (lot 413) for £6250 (premium).
Listed as a World Heritage Site by Unesco, the Popes' Palace is one of the 10 most visited monuments in France with 650,000 visitors per year. A true symbol of the influence of Western Christianity in the 14th century, this 15,000m2 masterpiece of a monument is the largest medieval fortress and biggest gothic palace of Europe. Built in less then 20 years starting in 1335, the Popes' Palace is the amalgamation of two palaces built by two popes: Benedict XII, who built the Old Palace to the east and north, and his successor Clement VI who built the New Palace to the south and west. In the 14th century, the Popes' Palace was occupied by 7 popes and 2 popes of the Papal Schism before the return of the papacy to Rome. Occupied by the Legates and Vice-Legates starting in the 15th century then transformed into a garrison until 1906, it has undergone various restoration work since. Most recently, the Trouillas Tower has regained its past appearance. The tower houses the 11 stories of the Departmental Archives and its height of 52 metres makes you dizzy as you look up at it from the terrace of the Utopia Manutention Cinema. Offering countless and incomparable riches, as much architectural as pictorial, the Palace plunges visitors into the heart of the splendour of the papal court. A good hour is needed to discover the more than 25 rooms open to the public: the ceremonial halls, the courtroom, the consistory, the chapels with their magnificent frescoes by the famous painter Matteo Giovanetti and the popes' private apartments.