Several weeks ago I received a call from a gentleman who wanted his collection of paintings appraised for insurance purposes.

After reviewing the collection I surmised that three pieces, an exquisite oil on canvas and two well-executed watercolours, all by the same hand, exhibited sufficient artistic merit to warrant a written appraisal.

S.J. Lamorna Birch, Looe Pool

S.J. Lamorna Birch, Harvest Time

S.J. Lamorna Birch, Lamorna Cove looking towards Carn Dhu

My client indicated he was a second generation relative of the artist and that he had inherited the two watercolours some years ago. The oil painting, he had purchased at auction, some 25 years earlier.

The paintings were signed by S.J. Lamorna Birch and in some cases dated. The oil had a gallery label on the reverse, which included the title of Looe Pool, Helstrom. The larger of the two watercolours was inscribed on the back “Harvest Time”, while the smaller watercolour appeared to be a hand-painted, personalized, Christmas card sent to “Charlie” in 1940. I was astounded to discover that the illustrious relative of my client was the renowned British painter, Samuel Lamorna Birch R.A. (1869-1955).

Samuel John Birch was born in Egremont, Cheshire. Birch first visited West Cornwall (England) in the late 1880s and settled in the Lamorna Valley in 1892. He adopted the epithet Lamorna in 1895 to distinguish himself from fellow artist Lionel Birch (an idea suggested by Stanhope Forbes).

He is regarded as the father figure of the later group of ‘Newlyn’ artists, which included Laura and Harold Knight (who he met in 1907), Alfred Munnings, Frank Gascoigne Heath, Stanley Gardiner and Charles and Ella Naper, forming a second artists colony in the Lamorna Valley, often referred to as the Lamorna group. Birch was elected as an Associate of the Royal Academy (a.r.a.) in 1924 and was made a full Royal Academician (r.a.) eight years later.

The oil titled Looe Pool, Helstrom was probably purchased from the S.J. Lamorna Birch Memorial Exhibition, Fine Art Society, London, October 1955. The title refers to the largest natural freshwater lake in Cornwall. The pool was originally the estuary of the River Cober which flows through the former port of Helston. The Pool is reputed to be the lake in which Sir Bedivere cast King Arthur’s sword, Excalibur. Local superstition also warns that the Pool claims a victim every seven years.

The watercolour titled Harvest Time is possibly a view in the Cotswolds and probably dates from the 1920s, painted during one of Birch’s visits to his friend and etcher Frederick Griggs at Campden, Gloucestershire. The small watercolour Christmas card depicts a view from the Lamorna harbour wall (Lamorna Cove) looking towards the rocks at Carn Dhu (black rock-pile).

On completing the appraisal, I was informed by my client that other relatives also owned works by their illustrious ancestor. These included drawings, watercolours and small oils, mainly images in and around Lamorna Cove, Cornwall.