William John Leech RHA (1881-1968) From a Hotel Window Oil on canvas, 50.5 x 42cm (20 x 16½'') Signed. Title inscribed verso William John Leech was educated at St. Columba's College,...

William John Leech RHA (1881-1968) From a Hotel Window Oil on canvas, 50.5 x 42cm (20 x 16½'') Signed. Title inscribed verso William John Leech was educated at St. Columba's College, Rathfarnham, where he showed early artistic promise. He subsequently attended the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art before passing to the Royal Hibernian Academy School as a pupil of Walter Frederick Osborne (1859-1903), and from there to the Academie Julian in Paris in 1901. In the 1930's Leech embarked on a series of pictures of various themes; still life's, self portraits, railways, and his life long friend and partner May Botterell, who he married in 1953. From the 1930's, Leech painted daily at his rented No. 4 Steele studio, and his greatest influence during this time were the ''Bloomsbury '' painters; Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell and Roger Fry. Their focus was more with private than public concerns and influenced Leech to paint purely for 'art's sake'. In this painting the artist is viewing a quiet English country lane in the height of summer from a hotel window which has the top of an arrangement of summer flowers and grasses visible, presumably on the sill. The dappled light permeating through the verdant leaves is typically Leech as is the shadow-play through the garden gate and on to the road which is lit by wonderful sunshine.

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