The Solitary, the Wanderer and the Poet (from William Wordsworth’s The Excursion, 1814)
Delmar Harmond Banner (Freiburg-im-Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany 1896 - Ulverston, Cumbria 1983)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1930 - 1985
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
950 x 1240 mm
Order this imageCollection
Great Langdale, Cumbria
NT 1534801
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, The Solitary, the Wanderer and the Poet by Delmar Harmood Banner (Freiburg-im-Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany 1896 - Ulverston, Cumbria 1983), circa 1936, signed bottom right in black and Josefina Alys Hermes de Vasconcellos (Surrey 1904 - Lancashire 2005), 1985. The painting was damaged in around 1985 and touched up by painter's widow. It shows three male figures, the poet on the right, and seated on a rock in the near ground with hills in the background. An oil sketch for this painting is held by the Wordsworth Trust at Dove Cottage, Grasmere. On the reverse of the sketch is written: 1st sketch for large painting / at Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel / of "The Solitary, The Wanderer / & the Poet" / DHB. The title refers to William Wordsworth's 1814 poem, in nine books: 'The Excursion' as part of 'The Recluse'. The character missing in the scene is the Pastor who encounters the trio on their journey, the role which is perhaps being played by the artist, also an Anglican lay priest. Delmar Banner, known for his dramatic landscapes of the fells, was born in Germany and studied at Cheltenham, Oxford and Regent Street Polytechnic before settling with his wife, Josefina Alys Hermes de Vasconcellos, whom he had married in 1930, in a farmhouse at The Bield in Little Langdale at the heart of the Lakes, with two adopted sons, Brian and Billy, despite his homosexuality. They had joint exhibitions in London (19/4647 and 1954/55) and Bradford (1987). Gilbert Spencer (see Clouds Hill), who had been evacuated to Ambleside with his family when the Royal College of Art was moved out of London to escape the Blitz was one of many artist friends whom they knew. Other friends included the poet Norman Nicholson and the well-known local farmer and breeder of Herdwick sheep Mrs Heelis (aka Beatrix Potter) whose pair of portraits the artist painted posthumously.
Marks and inscriptions
Bottom right: see below
Makers and roles
Delmar Harmond Banner (Freiburg-im-Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany 1896 - Ulverston, Cumbria 1983), artist Josefina Alys Hermes de Vasconcellos (Surrey 1904 - Lancashire 2005), artist