Overall: 33cm (13in) x 43cm (17in)
Oil on board. Inscribed lower left to ‘HMS Glasgow / in the Hudson River. New York 1939’ and signed lower right ‘Frank E Beresford ‘. Inscribed to the reverse ‘Painted by Frank E. Beresford / New York May (26 I think) 1939. The Hall Studio / 23A Grove End Rd / St John’s Wood, London /NW8’ and later ‘To TE Ward / Aug 30 / 1962’. Inscribed HMS Glasgow New York May 1939’ lower left and signed and dated lower right ‘Frank E. Beresford / 1939’. Framed.
In May 1939 the Light Cruiser HMS Glasgow moored in the Hudson to ensure all security arrangements and diplomatic protocols were ready prior to the arrival in New York City of the newly crowned King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, aboard the Empress of Australia, prior to a Royal Tour of Canada and the USA.
Frank Beresford (1881-1967) was born in Derby in 1881 and trained at the Derby School of Art (1895-1900), the Académie Carmen (Paris), St John's Wood Art Schools (1900-1901) and the Royal Academy Schools (1901-1906). Between 1906 and 1908, Beresford was elected to a British Institution Scholarship and embarked on a 30,000 mile, 18-month-long international painting tour, during which he attended the Meiji Emperor’s annual tea party in Tokyo. Before the Great War, Beresford also designed murals for St Bartholomew the Great Church, Smithfield and received an art award from the Japanese Government (1909). In the the First World War he served as an instructor in the London Regiment. A natural salesman, he received over 3,000 individual commissions from royalty, aristocracy, ex-civic leaders and politicians, senior army officers, society figures, celebrities and industrialists. His many oil paintings of historical events included the famous: The Princes' Vigil: 12.15am, January 28 1936, (1936), depicting George V lying in state in Westminster Hall. In the inter-war years, Beresford also specialised in interiors, animals, landscapes, aircraft and murals. He served as an official War Artist for the RAF and was also accredited to the US Army and USAAF. He painted the lying in state of George VI (1952) and Queen Mary (1953) and The Morning Ride, featuring Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. An account of his life was written in 2008 by biographer John Fineran: ‘Frank E. Beresford: Indomitable Self Belief 1881-1967.