Archive - Thursday, 6 January 2005


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Windfall legacy delights gallery

CHELTENHAM Art Gallery and Museum has added two important paintings to its collection, thanks to a £200,000 legacy from a Chipping Norton woman.

The money left by Margaret Bellwood, who died in 1998, has been used to buy two works by Arts & Crafts artist Joseph Southall, a painter who had strong links with the Cotswolds.

Visitor services manager Mary Greensted said nobody expected Miss Bellwood's legacy to be so large. "She left us seven-elevenths of her estate. We thought that would amount to something in the region of £30,000 but amazingly it ended up as about £200,000.

"Miss Bellwood wanted us to make a big purchase with her money, rather than lots of small ones. These pictures will make a tremendous impact in our Arts and Crafts gallery."

The two paintings by Southall, who lived from 1861-1944, are Hortus Inclusus or Garden Enclosed (1898) and Beauty Seeing the Image of Her Home in the Fountain (1897-8).

Southall grew up in Birmingham and attended evening classes at the city's school of art. By 1901 he was a leading exponent of tempura painting and the driving force of the Birmingham group, which had close connections with Gloucestershire and the Cotswolds.

"Southall was very familiar with this part of the world," said Mrs Greensted. "He used to come and visit quite a lot."

The two works cost a total of £355,500, with the balance of the money coming from the National Art Collections Fund and other grant-giving bodies.

The paintings will be included in a major exhibition of Southall's work at the gallery from April 23 to June 4.