Untitled

In an undated letter, 1980s, to B. de Lange, the 1976 purchaser writes: "The reason I purchased it really was that I thought it was a pretty good work. The trees on the left had an Edward Fristrom look about them. I think the general handling of the paint was good with a sureness of a competent artist. That is why I called on Flora Scales to see if she had any more of that period but no luck. She said if she was painting today she would not have put the poplar trees in.”

A photograph taken from the window of Pumpkin Cottage, Upper Hutt, New Zealand, shows a row of poplars very similar to those depicted in Untitled [Homewards] [BC004] painting [see Related images]. Pumpkin Cottage was rented in 1895 by James Nairn and used as a base for the group known as the "Pumpkin Cottage Impressionists" who painted en plein air, quickly and directly, with much emphasis on the use of saturated colour. After Nairn's death in 1904, Pumpkin Cottage remained a regular meeting place for members of the Wellington Art Club.

Flora Scales is known to have attended painting sessions at this location and is recorded as having planted an old rose beside the painted pumpkin sign sometime after 1914, perhaps in memory of her two brothers, Jack and George, who died in 1915 in the First World War [see Related images].

Mandy Fenwick, equestrian, in conversation with B. de Lange, 09.03.2020, “This is a painting of a two horse drawn blue cart with seated man holding the reins. The Clydesdale horses are wearing harnesses and blind bridles and a collar designed to distribute the drag of the drawn load or cart. This is the usual working gear of heavy working farm animals.”