Below the Old Bridge, Whitby, by George Weatherill, signed watercolour, 9¼ x 14¼in (23½ x 36cm), priced at £8500 by Walker Galleries.
The love affair has never ended. Years later when he opened Walker Galleries of Harrogate (then Walker Antiques), he knew he would trade and promote the works of Weatherill and his children.
It is little wonder, then, that a collection of Weatherill pictures, built up by a collector and his wife over 30 years, has come to Walker Galleries for a week-long exhibition running from April 2-9. The dealership says it was “instrumental in supplying and conserving the paintings” in the first place, and that the collectors now hope they will go to a younger generation.
St Ann’s Staith, looking up the Esk by George Weatherill, 5¼ x 9¼in (13 x 23½cm), £3250 at Walker Galleries.
Essentially self taught, Weatherill was influenced by Turner, copying the master’s works as well as his love of walking, strolling out to observe sunrises over the Yorkshire coast. Though he was already a popular figure in his native county, his renown grew among watercolour collectors in the 1980s-90s.
Whitby was his main subject, which is reflected in the exhibition in question. There are just over 30 works offered at prices of up to £14,000.
