DOI Heft:
No. 268 (July 1915)
DOI Artikel:Tucker, Arthur: Picturesque Kendal
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21213#0127
Picturesque Kendal
OW'i «Jy<
“market-place, kendal”
Jason and his golden fleece with attendants, Bishop
Blaize in his canonical robes surrounded by shep-
herds and shepherdesses, and workers in wool.
Kendal is the trading mart of a large agricultural
district, and has its appointed days of animation.
The Saturday market, which was established under
a grant purchased from Richard I in 1189, is still
held. On these occasions the town is practically in
the hands of the farming element, and carts, traps,
and booths of every description line the principal
streets, piled up with potatoes, fruit, vegetables, and
dairy produce of all kinds. This old-world gathering,
full of life and incident, with its background of
quaint houses, affords plenty of material for the
artist’s pencil. In fact, he need not go far afield
here, for there are numberless subjects about the
centre of the town. The Shambles, for instance,
is a wonderfully picturesque spot, especially if you
enter through the low arch from Finkle Street; here
is an interesting backwater where the artist can sit
and work unmolested. The butchers, for whom
the place was built, seem gradually to have removed
to more conspicuous quarters, and it has now lost
its sanguinary character and consists of a few
BY ARTHUR TUCKER, R.B.A.
ordinary little shops and a clothing depot, where
garments somewhat weathered and antique flutter
in the breeze from a broad overhanging roof.
This narrow passage leads out to the market-
place where the ancient wooden pillory formerly
stood ; the authorities having no further use for it,
it was pulled down in 1840 and sold for firewood.
A little further on another entry leads into Redman’s
Yard. Here in 1755 lived an itinerant portrait-
painter named Christopher Steele, who had received
instruction in Paris from Carlo Vanloo, and to whom,
at the age of twenty-one, George Romney was ap-
prenticed. For more than two years young Romney
practised with Steele, accompanying him to Lancaster,
York, and other places. After which, his master
determining to leave England, Romney prevailed
on him to surrender his indentures, and, without
further instruction or experience, commenced on
his own account by painting many of the local
celebrities, and charging the modest sum of six
guineas for a full-length and two for a three-quarter
figure. One of his earliest productions was the
representation of a hand holding a letter, which he
gave to the postmaster at Kendal. Other examples
107
OW'i «Jy<
“market-place, kendal”
Jason and his golden fleece with attendants, Bishop
Blaize in his canonical robes surrounded by shep-
herds and shepherdesses, and workers in wool.
Kendal is the trading mart of a large agricultural
district, and has its appointed days of animation.
The Saturday market, which was established under
a grant purchased from Richard I in 1189, is still
held. On these occasions the town is practically in
the hands of the farming element, and carts, traps,
and booths of every description line the principal
streets, piled up with potatoes, fruit, vegetables, and
dairy produce of all kinds. This old-world gathering,
full of life and incident, with its background of
quaint houses, affords plenty of material for the
artist’s pencil. In fact, he need not go far afield
here, for there are numberless subjects about the
centre of the town. The Shambles, for instance,
is a wonderfully picturesque spot, especially if you
enter through the low arch from Finkle Street; here
is an interesting backwater where the artist can sit
and work unmolested. The butchers, for whom
the place was built, seem gradually to have removed
to more conspicuous quarters, and it has now lost
its sanguinary character and consists of a few
BY ARTHUR TUCKER, R.B.A.
ordinary little shops and a clothing depot, where
garments somewhat weathered and antique flutter
in the breeze from a broad overhanging roof.
This narrow passage leads out to the market-
place where the ancient wooden pillory formerly
stood ; the authorities having no further use for it,
it was pulled down in 1840 and sold for firewood.
A little further on another entry leads into Redman’s
Yard. Here in 1755 lived an itinerant portrait-
painter named Christopher Steele, who had received
instruction in Paris from Carlo Vanloo, and to whom,
at the age of twenty-one, George Romney was ap-
prenticed. For more than two years young Romney
practised with Steele, accompanying him to Lancaster,
York, and other places. After which, his master
determining to leave England, Romney prevailed
on him to surrender his indentures, and, without
further instruction or experience, commenced on
his own account by painting many of the local
celebrities, and charging the modest sum of six
guineas for a full-length and two for a three-quarter
figure. One of his earliest productions was the
representation of a hand holding a letter, which he
gave to the postmaster at Kendal. Other examples
107