Lots 9-39 Property of the Late Reverend John Watson -
Harry Phelan Gibb, 
British 1870-1948 - 

Floral still life with green apples, 1930 (with 'Urban scene' on the reverse); 

oil on board, signed and dated lower left 'Phelan Gibb 1930', 68.8 x 63.8 cm 

Provenance: 
The Property of the Late Reverend John Watson (1939-2019) 

Note: 
a memory of Reverend John Watson from Ted Few, 

I first met John Watson at the Olympia Winter Antiques Fair in 1994. I was wondering how to make my wares more appealing to the disappointing trickle of visitors when I became aware of a pensive, engaged man making a thorough examination of the stand before settling on a patinated plaster bust of a woman by Hamo Thornycroft which had come from the collection of Siegfried Sassoon at Heytesbury Manor. After a while we exchanged a few words and then he took his leave. 

The next afternoon he returned, had another cursory look at the rest of the stand, and then began to ask me very informed questions about the bust. I couldn't make him out. Was he an academic? He certainly knew his stuff. A prospective purchaser? His attire gave nothing away. He seemed slightly unworldly - not remotely acquisitive. And then once again he thanked me and left. 

When he returned the following day I thought he was frankly either mad or deadly serious, but as he handed me a cheque my curiosity was assuaged. Thus began a relationship which lasted a quarter of a century and grew in scope and interest. He had, in that first interaction, demonstrated so many of his essential characteristics. He was quiet, thoughtful, thorough, curious, enthusiastic, prudent, unassuming and educated; a man of enormous integrity and kindness with a sense of humour to boot.  I learned that during his ministry he had bought pictures and sculpture from several of the top West End dealers but when he retired he was free to indulge his passion far more widely, buying initially from dealers, then additionally at auction and latterly extending his sphere of interest to global Works of Art, and even Modernism. He had an inbuilt radar which steered him towards the unusual, and a natural attraction for works of the finest quality, not to mention a nose for anything secondary or specious. And his passion for the New Sculpture Movement exemplified these preferences.

It is a privilege to have been invited to advise his family and a pleasure to be working with Roseberys once again, dispersing the unique collection of a much missed collector and friend via a favourite saleroom which espouses so many of his values.