Skip to main content

This auction has ended. View lot details

You may also be interested in

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

Helen Bradley (British, 1900-1979) Great Aunt Jane Telling a Story 33.3 x 24 cm. (13 1/8 x 9 3/8 in.) image 1
Helen Bradley (British, 1900-1979) Great Aunt Jane Telling a Story 33.3 x 24 cm. (13 1/8 x 9 3/8 in.) image 2
Helen Bradley (British, 1900-1979) Great Aunt Jane Telling a Story 33.3 x 24 cm. (13 1/8 x 9 3/8 in.) image 3
Lot 69AR

Helen Bradley
(British, 1900-1979)
Great Aunt Jane Telling a Story 33.3 x 24 cm. (13 1/8 x 9 3/8 in.)

21 June 2023, 15:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £19,200 inc. premium

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Modern British & Irish Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

Helen Bradley (British, 1900-1979)

Great Aunt Jane Telling a Story
signed 'HELEN BRADLEY' and with fly insignia (lower left); titled 'Gt Aunt Jane telling a Story' (on a studio label attached to the verso); inscribed '"Oh look George, if Great Aunt Jane hasnt gone to/sleep again, just when she was getting to the/nicest part." She was telling us a most beautiful/story about God who has just come to live/quite near to her, in a shed on the lonely moor/near Harts Head Pike. Mother said, "Hush children/let Great Aunt Jane sleep, she's getting very old./She's only having a little cat-nap and will soon/waken"; so George and I sat very still and soon/she opened her eyes and said, "Dear me, children, I/must have just dropped off, where was I", and she/went on to tell us that God would order the 'Thing'/which lived on the moors, and if it saw children, it would/bite them, I know God would say to it, "Be off with you",/and it would run over the hill to Mossley. When/we were going home down the lonely lane, George said that/he could hear it coming, but I wasnt afraid because I/knew God was near and would look after me, and the year was/1906.' (on an artist's label attached to the verso)
oil on canvas board
33.3 x 24 cm. (13 1/8 x 9 3/8 in.)

Footnotes

Provenance
With W.H. Patterson, London, 1981
Sale; Christie's, London, 4 June 1999, lot 262, where acquired by the present owner
Private Collection, U.K.

Literature
Helen Bradley, 'In the beginning' said Great Aunt Jane, Jonathan Cape Ltd, London, 1975, p.3 (col.ill.)
Ina Taylor, Helen Bradley's Lancashire, Halsgrove in association with Helen Bradley Prints Ltd, Tiverton and Bolton, 2002, p.82 (col.ill.) (as We Looked Forward to Tuesday)

Together with a with a copy of 'In the beginning' said Great Aunt Jane by Helen Bradley.

Additional information

Bid now on these items

Laurence Stephen Lowry R.A.(British, 1887-1976)Five Figures 26.5 x 18.2 cm. (10 3/8 x 7 1/4 in.)

Laurence Stephen Lowry R.A.(British, 1887-1976)People at the Beach 31.3 x 40.4 cm. (12 3/8 x 16 1/8 in.)

Fred Yates(British, 1922-2008)Still Life with Flowers

Fred Yates(British, 1922-2008)Vase of Flowers

John Bellany C.B.E., R.A., H.R.S.A., L.L.D.(Lon)(British, 1942-2013)Bouquet in a Floral Jug (unframed)

John Bratby R.A.(British, 1928-1992)Two Sunflowers

Philip Sutton R.A.(British, born 1928)Still Life

Anne Estelle Rice(American/British, 1887-1959)White Cyclamen

Joan Gillchrest(British, 1918-2008)Hyacinths Towards Zennor

Mary Fedden R.A.(British, 1915-2012)Still Life with Eggcup

Mary Fedden R.A.(British, 1915-2012)Still Life with Drawers

Bryan Pearce(British, 1929-2007)Fruit Bowl

Peter Collis R.H.A.(Irish, 1929-2012)Still Life with Blue Jug

Geoffrey Key(British, born 1941)Chinese Vases II

Tessa Newcomb(British, born 1955)The Evening after the Visit

Mary Newcomb(British, 1922-2008)Orange Winged Butterfly

Mary Newcomb(British, 1922-2008)Butterfly

Mary Newcomb(British, 1922-2008)Yellow Butterfly

Tessa Newcomb(British, born 1955)Our Field

Mary Newcomb(British, 1922-2008)Fishing Boat

Alan Lowndes(British, 1921-1978)Cap d'Antibes

Mary Fedden R.A.(British, 1915-2012)Oasis Pella, Jordan

Mary Fedden R.A.(British, 1915-2012)Gone Fishing

Alan Furneaux(British, born 1953)The Bay of St Michael's Mount