The Castle at Sion

The Castle at Sion

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CHARLES MARCH GERE, RA, RWS

The Castle at Sion

Signed and dated 1945; inscribed on the reverse: Castle of Sion

Watercolour

24.5 by 34.5 cm., 9 ½ by 13 ½ in. (frame size 38 by 48 cm., 15 by 19 in.)

The Mathon Court Gallery, Malvern, c.1990; Private collection.

Gere was born in Gloucester and studied at the Birmingham School of Art under E R Taylor. He joined the staff of the art school in 1893. In the 1890s he worked as an illustrator, contributing to The Quest and books illustrated by the Birmingham Group and designing the frontispiece for William Morris’s News from Nowhere (Kelmscott Press, 1892). In his early career he was involved in a number of the arts and crafts, designing embroidery, metalwork and stained glass and painting the reredos in the Chapel at Madresfield. Gradually, however, he became almost exclusively a landscape painter. In about 1904 he and his sister Margaret settled in Painswick, near Stroud, and many of his subjects were found in the surrounding Cotswolds, which was to become his favourite painting ground. He exhibited at the New Gallery, Society of Painters in Tempera, Royal Academy, New English Art Club, Royal Watercolour Society and Art Workers Guild. A memorial exhibition was held in Gloucester in 1963.

Sion is situated in the Rhone valley in Switzerland and is the capital of the Valais. Gere’s watercolour shows the 11th-13th century medieval fortified town surrounding the Basilique de Valère.

Dimensions:

Height 24.5 cm / 9 "
Width 34.5 cm / 13 "
Framed height 38 cm / 15 "
Framed width 48 cm / 19"

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