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3, Bathwick Hill, Bath

Ellis

1943

watercolor

From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum

Social Realism Early Modern Nude

Dominant colour

3, Bathwick Hill, Bath is a 1943 watercolor by Ellis, a Social Realism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.

Who painted this?: Ellis
When & what style?: 1943 · Social Realism
Where can I see it?: Victoria and Albert Museum

About this work

This watercolor shows a tall, narrow window with a decorative iron gate in front. The window has a fancy stone frame with curved carvings on top, and the gate has swirly metalwork. The paint is light and faded, with some areas worn away, showing the paper underneath. The artist focused on simple shapes and textures—like the smooth stone and the rough wall beside the window. The colors are muted, mostly pale greys and browns, with a few darker shadows. Next, check out the Victoria and Albert Museum to see more works like this.

The story of this work

Overview

A watercolour by Ellis from 1943 depicts the ornamental iron gateway and carved stone porch of a town house on Bathwick Hill, featuring wyverns' heads and pineapples in the masonry. The work was produced as part of the Recording Britain project, a wartime initiative led by Sir Kenneth Clark to document places and buildings across England that embodied national identity. Funded by the Pilgrim Trust and administered by the Committee for the Employment of Artists in Wartime, the scheme commissioned artists to record scenes threatened by bomb damage, urban expansion, and changing rural practices.…

Read the full account in the museum source.