A Village Backstreet

Gotch was born in Kettering, Northamptonshire. He studied at Heatherley’s Art School and the Slade with and later in Antwerp and Paris. After a trip to Australia in 1884 he and his wife returned to England and after several visits to Cornwall decided to live permanently in Newlyn in 1887. For some years he worked along traditional Newlyn lines, treating local subjects in a realistic manner but a visit to Florence in 1891-2 lend him in the direction of more symbolistic and allegorical subjects with a distinctly decorative treatment. Gotch was a close friend of Henry Scott Tuke and together with Stanhope Forbes they became founder members of the New English Art Club in 1886. He exhibited at the Royal Academy 1880-1931, was a member of the Royal Society of British Artists and Royal Institute of Oil Painters. He is represented in many public and major private art collections.