This website, created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.

CROSSING THE BORDER

Copyright Valerie Martin 2002

Text first published in Along the Furlong, January 2002.

Please note that I cannot enter into correspondence on valuations of paintings nor advise on where best to sell items.

Edwin Douglas, the artist, was born in Scotland. It was not until much later that he made his way south and that he eventually settled in Findon in West Sussex.

In 1868, when Edwin was only 20 years old, I have discovered that his obvious great talent attracted the attention of James Drummond, a fellow artist. Drummond wrote and asked the young man if he would accompany him to The Glen, which was Sir Charles Tennant's home in Peeblesshire. This was Edwin's introduction to Sir Charles' delightful house and his first painting was that of his host's daughter, Pauline Emma, together with her horse. This equestrian portrait was exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy and was a great undertaking for a youth of barely twenty-one; it was received well and considered a great success.

This led to a total of fourteen other commissions from Sir Charles. These included a small head-sized likeness of Lady Tennant, and a life-sized half-length portrait of Margot Tennant, a high-spirited and pretty child. One day when out riding with Edwin, this young lady turned and enquired the sex of the pony she was riding as she wanted to know whether she was talking to a "lady or gentleman pony" as she rode.

 Douglas at once replied, "Your pony is undoubtedly a lady".

 The girl looked up at his prompt reply, "How do you know?"

 "Because of its delicate ears", the artist answered.

Margot Tennant later said that this was her first lesson on sex education and for many years afterwards she found herself studying the ears of her friends.

Edwin worked at his paintings during the mornings and rode out with the daughters of The Glen household after luncheon, accompanying them all in turns — Charlotte, Laura and Lucy.

I have found that during those happy days working at the Glen (in what amounted to living in the lap of luxury), he also received commissions to paint for Sir Robert Jardine of Castlemilk in Dumfries. Sir Robert was a widower and the commissions included a portrait of his only heir and various dogs — a greyhound and two Japanese lap dogs. Edwin then turned his attention to a variety of equine pets living at Castlemilk and produced "Favourites at Castlemilk" in 1870, which was exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy. He also made many studies of the racehorses owned by his host and stabled at a racing establishment at Middleham in Yorkshire.

Edwin continued with his career in art with "The Watch Tower". This was a portrayal of a mastiff dog on the battlements of an ancient castle. It was forwarded to the Royal Academy in London in 1869 — and crossed the border to venture south before Edwin Douglas had thought of doing so himself. The painting was accepted and again well hung. From then on Edwin did not look back and exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy and continued to do so for nearly thirty years. "The Watch Tower" continued a little further south when it was purchased by a gentleman from Tonbridge Wells in Kent.

It was Sir Edwin Landseer's beautiful illustrations of English rural life that now gave the young artistic Scotsman a desperate longing to live in England.  Edwin's father, James, also an artist, was at this time on the decline and suffering with depression. Edwin decided to give him a change both mentally and physically and arranged to move the family lock, stock and barrel over the border — but he had yet to set his sights on Findon.

Edwin Douglas crossed the River Tweed, (that water forming part of the Scottish-English border), in the spring of 1872. He found and furnished a house at Westcott near Dorking in Surrey. That autumn his father, mother and sister joined him to partake in the novelty of life in rural England. James Douglas immediately regained his strength and vigour and once more picked up his brushes and resumed painting with renewed interest.

During their leisure time in Surrey, father and son organised sketching parties in the neighbourhood for groups of ladies interested in art. Two of these gentlewomen were Mary and Anne Legge who had a studio in their house at the Holmwood in Dorking. Their fondest wish was to build a church on the Holmwood in memory of the happy years they had spent there together. They made every effort to raise money for this project before they died. When Edwin heard they were about to hold a large bazaar for raising more funds, he sent them a sketch to be raffled. This was probably not a simple pencil drawing.  I know from experience that Edwin would execute an extremely detailed oil painting in record time and classify this as a "sketch".  He was gratified to learn later that his artwork had been instrumental in bringing in the very respectable sum in those days of £40 towards the good cause.

Edwin's time in Surrey was pleasurable and when looking back to the simplicity of those halcyon days, every day seemed bathed in sunshine.

Continue if you would like to read how Edwin Douglas signed his paintings in The Heart Signature.