I’m not the only blogger in
Budleigh Salterton!
And not the only one blogging
about Roger Conant.
Local artist John Washington,
Chair of our town’s Art Club, has thrown himself enthusiastically into the
project of an exciting ‘history painting’.
Two years ago, John organized a
successful re-enactment of the scene in 1870 when the celebrated Pre-Raphaelite
artist Sir John Everett Millais stayed in Budleigh Salterton and started work
on his masterpiece ‘The Boyhood of Raleigh’.
Set on our pebble beach, the
painting shows an imagined scene where young Walter Raleigh and his
half-brother Humphrey Gilbert are inspired by the stories of travel and
adventure told to them by a local sailor. John, in costume as Millais, is
pictured above.
John’s current work focuses on
the famous 1625 incident at Fishermen’s Field on Cape Ann, near Gloucester MA,
when Roger Conant is recorded as having averted a bloody confrontation between
two groups of settlers.
‘A degree of artistic license
will be required but I still intend to include as much historical accuracy as
possible,’ says John.
You can follow John’s progress on
the project at https://www.johnwashingtonartist.com/blog.html
You can access other posts on this blog by going to the Blog Archive (under the ‘About Me’ section), and clicking on the appropriate heading.
