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WYNFORD DEWHURST - IMPRESSIONIST PAINTER'S MYSTERY LINK WITH REPTON

Our 'Famous Residents' section both continues to grow and to throw up some definite surprises. One of our special categories is reserved for those who are 'resident eternal' in the county by virtue of a Derbyshire burial. Here Peter Seddon ponders why Wynford Dewhurst - in his day an impressionist painter of considerable renown - should have been laid to rest in the village of Repton.

One of Wynford Dewhurst's most accomplished works - The Picnic - which he painted in 1908

The South Derbyshire village of Repton arguably has a greater number of interesting and often surprising ‘connections’ than any other place in the county.

This has much to do with it being home to one of Britain's leading public schools, for many celebrated ‘names’ were Old Reptonians, and quite a number are featured in You and Yesterday articles.

And its store of surprises knows no bounds, for according to a biographical sketch the British painter Wynford Dewhurst (1864-1941) is buried in St. Wystan's churchyard. Although the name is little known today in general circles, he was an important figure in British art, and one of the foremost impressionist painters of his day.

Yet his link with Derbyshire is rather a perplexing one, for Wynford Dewhurst had not been educated at Repton, nor was he born in the county. So the precise route by which he came to be buried in Repton - assuming that information to be correct - remains unclear.

Perhaps someone can provide the answer, or at least has located the grave - meanwhile this is what is known of him.

Wynford Dewhurst was born in Manchester on 26 January 1864. He was educated at home by a private tutor and later at Mintholme College.

Although he originally trained to enter the legal profession, he showed artistic flair and decided to pursue a career as a painter after some of his drawings had been published in magazines and journals.

He gained his artistic training in France at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, where he became profoundly influenced by the work of the great French impressionist Claude Monet.

Dewhurst’s magnificent 1908 work The Picnic is said to demonstrate that influence most admirably – the painting is in the collection of Manchester City Art Gallery.

Dewhurst became an ardent devotee of the Impressionist cause – aside from producing his own paintings in that style, he also wrote extensively on the subject, and became an important voice in art history as both a lecturer and writer.

His book-length publication entitled Impressionist painting: its genesis and development was published in London in 1904. This was the first important study of the French painters to be published in English. Dewhurst dedicated his pioneering account to his self-declared mentor Claude Monet.

The book proved controversial, for in it Dewhurst propounded the theory that the French impressionists were merely adapting an already-existing English style – in essence he mischievously claimed that Impressionism was British in origin.

During his career Dewhurst became particularly known for his paintings of the countryside around Dieppe and the Seine valley, where he painted regularly.

Throughout his life he exhibited frequently at the Royal Society of British Artists and at the Royal Academy, where he lectured on art from 1914 to 1926. His works were also shown to considerable acclaim in Paris, Rome, Vienna, and Buenos Aires.

Dewhurst lived in a number of locations. Although his movements are not fully documented, it is thought that he stayed in Paris until 1898 and then moved back to Britain, where he first settled at Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire.

He is recorded there until at least 1907, but subsequently moved to Tunbridge Wells, Kent. By 1917 he was in Hampstead, that leafy London enclave much favoured then as now by those of an 'artistic temperament'.

Little has been written of his private life save that ‘he was married to Antonia and had three sons and three daughters’.

Now for that tantalising snippet, for the stock published pen-picture of Wynford Dewhurst offers up the following:

‘He died on 9 July 1941 at 145 Belvedere Road, Burton on Trent, Staffordshire, and was buried at Repton’.

Belvedere Road is a street of mostly terraced houses – pleasant as it is, it would not be unfair to suggest that it is somewhat removed in character from Hampstead, and even further from the ateliers and salons of Paris in which Dewhurst honed his rare talent.

So what brought a renowned impressionist painter to the home of Marston’s Pedigree and draught Bass?

Did he move at some point to live permanently in Burton? And for what reason? Might he have come to reside there in later years with a son or daughter?

Of course he may have been ‘just visiting’, but his burial at Repton suggests a permanent link with the Derbyshire-Staffordshire locality. But why should Repton have been chosen instead of a local church in Burton? Perhaps his family merely considered the picturesque setting befitting of an artist's final resting place.

Part of the fascination of ‘local history’ is in piecing together rudimentary clues offered up by the ‘bald facts’ to present a comprehensible and complete picture.

So if anyone can add information concerning the British impressionist painter Wynford Dewhurst, here is the place to do it. Just click ‘edit’ or ‘discussion’ and begin writing.

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County:  Derbyshire