HENRY SCOTT TUKE (BRITISH, 1858-1929)

Footnote
Siordet hailed from prominent Huguenot family who originated in the Vers region of France, near Geneva, before settling in London.  Gerald was educated at Clifton college, where he won numerous Royal Drawing Society medals, before being awarded a scholarship to read Classics at Balliol College, Oxford.  Whilst at Oxford, he met fellow aspiring artist Brian Hatton (1887-1916) who studied at Trinity and painted Siordet’s portrait on a number of occasions.  Having come down from Oxford, Siordet and Hatton shared a studio, known as The Bronze Door, on Cathcart Road in South Kensington.  As well as Tuke, their artistic circle included Glyn Philpot, Gerald Spencer Pryce, the illustrator Henry Justice Ford and John Singer Sargent who drew a superb portrait of Siordet. 

Siordet worked with the New English Art Club and it is likely that it was there that he met Tuke.  He also worked for a number of other artistic Institutions including the Medici Society, the Victoria & Albert museum, where he catalogued the collection of ivory carvings; he also wrote a number of artistic critiques for The Studio magazine. 

Siordet was working for the Fine Art Society when was war was declared in August 1914.  He joined as a private soldier but in 1915 was promoted to 2^nd Lieutenant, the 13^th Rifle Brigade.  On 1^st July, stationed near the village of Pozieres, during the Battle of the Somme, Siordet was awarded the Military Cross ‘For conspicuous gallantry during an attack.’  in January 1917, having recovered from a wound suffered during the Somme, Siordet was sent to Mesopotamia with the 6^th King’s Own Lancaster Regiment and, on 9^th February, was killed whilst leading a successful attack on a Turkish position near Kut-al-Amara on the left bank of the Tigris River.  His body was never recovered but his name is recorded on the Basra memorial, Iraq, The WWI memorial at Balliol, as well as the V&A memorial designed by Eric Gill.

Siordet left behind a sketchbook of works from the Western Front described in the Cliftonian in March 1919 as ‘…extraordinarily vivid.  They are done with a few, sure, light lines, evidences of technical knowledge and highly trained skill.’  The same article described his poetry as, ‘The theme…of passionate friendship, united with passionate love of England and passionate faith in England’s cause, and her right to claim his utmost devotion.’  Such praise is justified and illustrated in just a few lines from his poem ‘To the Dead’

‘So may I turn me in and by some sweet
Remembered pathway find you once again.
Then we can walk together, I with you.
Or you, or you, along some quiet road.
And talk the foolish, old, forgivable talk.
And laugh together; you will turn your head,
Look as you used to look, speak as you spoke,
My friend to me, and I your friend to you.’

Following Siordet’s death Glyn Philpot arranged for a volume of his poetry and drawings to be published privately for his sister Vera.  Another obituary described him as a ‘…man with very mature judgement, with great knowledge, very definite opinions on all questions of taste, whether literary or artistic, and an acute critical sense, combined with great warmth of heart and no little wit, he was beloved by older and younger alike.’

Condition Report

The sheet is sound; scattered media spots to background, otherwise good original condition with strong colour; framed and under glass, unexamined out of frame.