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Signed and dated, signed and inscribed with title on the backboard
Watercolour, gouache and pencil; with original Rowley Gallery frame and mount
17Q X 13E ins. (44.5 X 35 cms.)
Provenance: the artist’s family, by direct descent

Gerald Moira, though of Portuguese parentage, here depicts a Spanish Caballero (horseman) in typical dress. Moira wrote extensively about colour value and especially the use of red with colours of equal weight (Harold Watkins, The Art of Gerald Moira, Dickens, London, 1922, p. 49). His dramatic use of red and blue here corresponds with the bold use of colour in his murals.

We are grateful to Michael Barker for his assistance.
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Signed; oil on canvas, 29⅞ × 39¾ in.
(76 × 101 cm.)
Provenance: private collection since 1970

This scene is likely to have been painted in Spain, where Moira (who was of
Portuguese parentage) travelled extensively. During Holy Week and on other saints’ days it was common practice to carry wooden figures of the Virgin while on Holy Processions, often on small pilgrimages between villages. The girls in white are novitiates and are depicted here as young and frivolous before taking their vows of chastity, humour being added to the scene as their white habits are buffeted by the wind. Compositionally the painting is typical of Moira’s decorative approach, with a dynamic procession in the foreground, set against a flat and stylised landscape in the background (cf. The Cornish Floral Dance, repr. Harold Watkins, The Art of Gerald Moira, London 1922, plate 21).

We are grateful to Michael Barker and Magdeline Evans for assistance.

Thumbnail panels:

Gerald Lobb Moira 1867-1959

Painter, mural decorator and teacher, born in London of Portuguese origin. He studied at Royal Academy Schools, 1887–89, winning several prizes, having been earlier tutored and encouraged by his father, a miniature painter who had served in the Portuguese diplomatic service. Moira failed to win the Royal Academy gold medal only by the casting vote of its president, Sir Frederick Leighton. On leaving the Schools Moira immediately set up studio in London and received a number of important portrait commissions. Moira showed at the RA from 1891, IS from 1899, was member of NPS and RWA, and held senior positions in ROI and RWS. He went on to become professor of mural and decorative painting at the Royal College of Art, 1900–22, then principal of Edinburgh College of Art, 1924–32. In addition to teaching he carried out a formidable number of large commissions, including decorations for the old Trocadero Restaurant, in Shaftesbury Avenue; ceiling for the boardroom of Lloyd’s Register; a frieze for the Passmore Edwards Free Library, in Shoreditch; work at the Central Criminal Court; as well as work in private houses, church decoration and many easel pictures. His compositions were confidently designed, tidy in execution and rich in colour. Examples of his work are in the collections of the Tate, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and Glasgow Art Gallery. He died in Northwood, Middlesex.

Selected Literature Harold Watkins, The Art of Gerald Moira, London, 1922.