Dimensions of original oil painting are 34 cm x 24 cm. More in frame.
All in excellent bright condition. Thickly applied paint with pallette knife, expertly done.
Subject is the town of Cassis, near St. Tropez in the South of France. There is a hand written description of the location on the back of the canvas. Cassis is a small coastal town in the South of France, also near Marseilles, and is often quoted as being the first town on the stretch of coast in the South of France known as the Riviera.
D'oyly John was brought up in Durban, South Africa. His full name was Cecil Rochfort D'oyly John, although he signed his paintings as Doyly-John. Little is known of his early life and the mystery of his parentage is deepened by the artist himself, who claimed to be the illegitimate son of Augustus John. D'oyly John became a widely recognised painter for several decades after World War II with his idealised sun-drenched views of a perfect and unspoilt south of France and the Mediterranean.
Before becoming an artist, he was quite adventurous and travelled the world, taking many jobs and assignments. These included working on a Japanese tramp steamer, life-saving in Colombo and pearl-fishing in Manila and "a bit of hush-hush gun-running". He also served for eight years with the police in Tanganyika, rising to district commissioner. When war broke out in 1939, he returned to England and joined the Military Police. He served in Africa, the Middle East and later with Civil Affairs on the continent. In 1945 he was badly wounded by a bomb, reportely a V2 rocket. This resulted in D'oyly John being temporarily blinded and needing a long period of rest to recuperate from his injuries. During this time, he was introduced to painting by his friend, the artist and teacher, Edmund Fearnley-Whittingstall. Having been encouraged to paint by him, D'oyly John adopted a palette knife technique gleaned from a Belgian artist seen on holiday. He later picked up tips from the Nice artist Paul Negeli. When KLG, the sparking plug firm he worked for was taken over, D'oyly John and his wife Joan moved to South Africa. It was at this time he began painting seriously with interest from the British dealer Frost & Reed.
The D'oyly Johns lived in Cannes for several years before settling in England, but he continued to tour the continent after becoming an established artist, starting to sell his work at Gough's Gallery of Bognor Regis. In 1965 he had a very successful solo exhibition in Bognor Regis, selling his work to art dealers from around the world, including Stacy-Marks, Aldridges, and Frost & Reed.
Queen Elizabeth visiting Africa as Princess Elizabeth, found her Treetops Hotel in Kenya decorated with several D'oyly Johns and acquired his work for the Royal Collection. Some of his wonderful paintings of the south of France and of Venice were reproduced as prints, often high in the Printsellers' Association's popularity poll. Brighton became his home before eventually settling in Rottingdean, on the south coast. He was dubbed the Van Gogh of Sussex, after his colourful past and as a tribute to his similar style of painting. A stroke in 1987 incapacitated the artist, partially paralysing him and blinding him in one eye. He died in 1993 and is buried in St Margaret's churchyard in Rottingdean.
