11th Mar, 2026 13:00
British & International Pictures
* SAMUEL JOHN LAMORNA BIRCH RA RWS (BRITISH 1869 - 1955)
RIVER LANDSCAPE
oil on canvas, signed verso
framed
image size 41cm x 51cm, overall size 54cm x 64cm
Note: Landscape painter, principally of Cornwall, born in Egremont, Cheshire. Lamorna Birch’s early youth was spent working in an office and in cotton mills, sometimes designing, in Lancashire, where he painted part-time. Mainly self-taught, apart from a short period at Atelier Colarossi, Paris, in 1895. From the late 1880s he visited the Penzance region. At this time Stanhope Forbes influenced his work. Eventually settled at Lamorna, adding this to his own name to avoid confusion with the painter Lionel Birch. Exhibited prolifically at Fine Art Society, where he had one-man shows, RWS, Walker’s Galleries, RA, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, and elsewhere. In 1937 he painted in New Zealand. Elected RA, 1934. Tate Gallery holds his work, which found its way into many collections, and Falmouth Art Gallery gave him a retrospective in 1997, which toured to Plymouth; an exhibition at Penlee House in Penzance in 1995 had marked publication by Sansom & Company of Austin Wormleighton’s A Painter’s Laureate: Lamorna Birch and his circle.
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£800 - £1,200
Buyer's premium: 24.00%
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Auction: British & International Pictures, 11th Mar, 2026
The star of March's catalogue is a pencil and wash sketch by James Abbott McNeill Whistler dated two just two years before his death, from his time spent in Ajaccio, Corsica at the turn of the 20th century. Among the lots, bidders will find a posthumous etching by Rembrant Van Rjin, fine examples of portraiture by Thomas Barber, an oil by Josef Herman, alongside others.
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Entries are invited for our next British & International Pictures Auction on 3 June. For a complimentary, no-obligation valuation, make an appointment to visit our Glasgow Galleries or contact our specialists by clicking this link and completing the short form.
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Monday 9th - 9am -5pm
Tuesday 10th - 9am-5pm
Wednesday 11th - 9am-1pm
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