Harry van der Weyden (1868-1952)

Born in Boston, Van der Weyden won a scholarship to the Slade School in London when he was 19. He then studied at the Académie Julien in Paris in 1890-91, and was one of a number of American artists living and working in Paris, including Sargent, Whistler, Cassatt and Homer. He exhibited at the Paris Exposition of 1900, which the New York Times described as ‘unquestionably the finest collection of works by American artists that ever before has been brought together.‘

Van der Weyden lived near Etaples at Montreuil-sur-Mer on the Normandy coast, but at the outbreak of war in 1914, left France with his two eldest sons and attempted to join the British Army as American citizens. When all three men were turned away, they returned once more claiming to be British subjects, and were only then accepted. Harry's regiment, the Royal Engineers, put his artistic skills to work, making him a camouflage officer. He and his sons survived the war and were granted British nationality around 1920. He moved his studio to London, but travelled often to Italy and France, particularly to the Cote d‘Azur.

This painting was made after the war, in 1927, and was exhibited at the Royal West of England Academy. It depicts the bay of Mortola Superiore in the Province of Imperia, on the border of Italy and France.