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Roy Petley
THE BALLON SELLER
2016

Name: THE BALLON SELLER
Brand: Roy Petley
Rating: 5 (16 reviews)

$3,096.18List Price

About the Item

Roy Petley ..Petley paints en plein air, which is a French expression meaning "in the open air", to create his popular works that depict the wide expanse of English beaches and the gentle allure of Venetian landscapes. His works have been likened to those of John Constable, Edward Seago, and Campbell Mellon, British painters whose styles were influenced by the Barbizon School and Impressionism. Beginning life in a children's home, he became one of the first artists to open an art gallery in Cork Street, a prestigious street lined with art galleries in London's Mayfair. His works are popularly collected by British royalty, including Queen Elizabeth The Queen MotIn every work of art, Petley incorporates a play of light and shadows. As he moves from his natural medium of oil to watercolour or pastel to sanguine, there remains a certain youthful light emanates from his paintings. A plein air painter, his works reflect his surroundings - from the quiet beaches of Norfolk and the picturesque parks of Paris, to his subtle nudes draped with sheets and sunlight. He captures the romanticism of days gone by, with nary a modern automobile or electrical appliance blemishing his canvas. Renowned British art critic, Brian Sewell, described Petley as "a painter who still paints, who brushes watercolour onto paper and oil paint onto canvas, a painter who even settles down to draw the nude from life - an absurdly old-fashioned discipline for an artist to pursue." Petley was one of the first artists to open a gallery on London’s prestigious Cork Street and enjoyed much UK success with his work, which has been likened to that of Constable and Seago. But it’s his debt to French Impressionism that I’m keen to probe, especially as he has made this elegant country manoir near Bergerac his second home for the last 25 years. I’ve always been convinced that the Impressionists didn’t just paint France because they were French. Of course, there was inevitable patriotism and the ease with which they could step outside and capture a slice of village life or café culture and the quirks of French society, but there is something about France’s landscapes that simply begs to be caught on canvas. It seems Roy would agree, having chosen Dordogne as a painting spot before he moved here, and it was for its inspiring waterside setting that he eventually bought this house. “The river [Dordogne] is just at the bottom of the garden – it’s a great place to work. There’s something quite wonderful about the solitude of it; it keeps you sane. When I’m in London it’s crazy and I’m always so happy to get back here.” ‘Bellissima’, as it is fondly known, lives up to its name in spades. In a hamlet near the village of Pessac-sur-Dordogne between Bergerac and Libourne, it sits accompanied by a four-bedroom gîte known as ‘Petite Bellissima’ in two hectares of beautiful grounds. Its tranquility is likely owed to its previous residents, a group of nuns – though they were all taken away by the church in 1910 following a pregnancy scandal, Roy chuckles. “I was down by the river painting away when I first saw this ruin,” he tells me. “I felt very sad about its state. I walked around it; it was all open and broken and you could see the sky from the ground floor, but there was a particular calmness about it. I got hold of an agent and asked if he could find out if it was for sale, and he said ‘It’s a ruin! It would cost a fortune to restore that, you’re crazy!’ Anyway I did buy it eventually [in 1989], and we spent five years restoring it. Every penny from exhibitions went into it.”

Creator:
Roy Petley (1951, British)
Creation Year:
2016
Dimensions:
Height: 15.75 in (40 cm)Width: 23.63 in (60 cm)Depth: 1.58 in (4 cm)
Medium:
Oil
Movement & Style:
Impressionist
Period:
20th Century
Framing:
Framing Options Available
Condition:
size is including the frame.
Gallery Location:
Pollenca, ES
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU1245213960902

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