GODDARD, WILLIAM CHARLES (English, fl. 1853; died 1895) "Frithelstock Priory and Church" Signed, L.R., and inscribed verso. Oil on board, 6" x 8 3/8" (sight); 9" x 12" (framed). Price Category: A

This beautiful small topographical painting of a ruined priory in Devon dating from the 12th Century inspired a recent visit to the site, and a photograph of the ruin as it looks today (unchanged from when the artist painted it over 100 years ago), is offered with the painting. By carefully comparing the painting and the photograph, one can trace the subtle inclusion or exclusion of details as well as alterations in the angle of vision that the artist considered for his final composition. There is both a William Charles Goddard and a Charles Goddard listed in the records, and it is possible that the two artists were one and the same. Charles Goddard exhibited two watercolors at the Suffolk St. Galleries in 1853 and had an address in Hastings, Kent. William Charles Goddard exhibited one landscape at the New Watercolor Society (NWS) in 1885 and registered a London address. If there are two Goddards, ours is the latter, clearly signing his work with the initials "W.C." Provenance: Bonhams, London, 2006. References: Christopher Wood, The Dictionary of Victorian Painters, 2nd. ed. (Barron: Woodsbridge, 1978).

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