Art page of Spelthorne Museum, Staines, Middlesex.

Art Page

1. BBC 'Your Paintings' Project

In 2013 one of our exhibits in the Museum was linked to the BBC 'Your Paintings' project which aimed to put online all the oil painting recorded digitally for the National Art Catalogue of public collections. It launched on February 8th. Spelthorne Museum had several paintings recorded, and they now appear online along with 212,000 others.

The Museum did put a couple of our paintings, as seen on the website, on show in the display case in the Thames Room (in the middle of the Famous People of Spelthorne exhibition). There were colouring cards etc for children as well.

The BBC did Projections across the UK and Big Canvas Art Activities that were on local BBC News. Various famous faces also created their own 'Your Paintings Collections' online – including John Sergeant.

The Spelthorne Museum Collection paintings are shown below in a small size with a link to the BBC website for each painting. On that page you can click on the painting and it will be shown to you in a much larger size.

	A Mother's Rosary by M Vasey Oil on canvas 11 x 16 cm
	Cottages in Thames Street Unknown Artist oil on Canvas 20 x 25 cm
	A Cottage on the Corner of Manygate Lane and Rope Walk, Shepperton by G.E. Winfield 1901 Oil on Canvas 26 x 41 cm
	A Cottage on the Corner of Manygate Lane and Rope Walk, Shepperton by G.E. Winfield 1901 Oil on Canvas 30 x 41 cm

2. Latest Painting

'SPELTHORNE MUSEUM ACQUIRES IMPORTANT PAINTING OF STAINES'

Spelthorne Museum, Staines, has acquired at auction an important local painting, ‘Staines with St. Mary’s Church’ by Edward H. Niemann. The large oil painting, which dates from c1880, shows the Thames at Staines with St. Mary’s Church, and was purchased for the museum with the generous assistance of the Art Fund.

Museum spokesman Nick Pollard commented “This painting is an important addition to our collection and forms a valuable record of the riverside at Staines, when it still had a rural aspect. It will be the centrepiece of future exhibitions of views of the riverside in Spelthorne. We are extremely grateful to the Art Fund for enabling us to purchase this painting, which otherwise would have been beyond our resources”. Niemann was well known in the mid Victorian period for his views of the English countryside and along the Thames in particular, and this is the first of his work to be owned by the museum. It is now on display in the Thames Room at the museum.

The museum also acquired several other paintings, prints and other items relating to the Borough’s history at the same auction, for which it will be seeking sponsorship.