Lot 163
CHARLES OPPENHEIMER R.S.A., R.S.W. (SCOTTISH 1876-1961) §
SUNSHINE AFTER SNOW, KIRKCUDBRIGHT
Scottish Paintings & Sculpture
Auction: Evening Sale | Lots 109 to 207 | Thursday 04 December 2025 from 6pm
Description
Signed, oil on canvas
Dimensions
78cm x 99cm (30.75in x 39in)
Provenance
Andrew Nimmo Smith, Selkirk
By descent to McTear's Auctioneers, Glasgow, 19 July 2012, lot 171
The Fine Art Society, Edinburgh
Footnote
This painting depicts the rear of Charles Oppenheimer’s house and garden in Kirkcudbright, at 14 High Street, next door to that of E. A. Hornel, who lived at Broughton House. In the painting, one can see an extension to the original building, a small annex on the right, which was known as 14a.
The English detective author Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957) is known to have taken this house for the summer on several occasions in the late 1920s and early 1930s, during which time she used it as a writer’s retreat. She is believed to have drawn inspiration from the surrounding area and the people she met in the artists’ colony.
Her 1931 novel Five Red Herrings is set among the streets of Kirkcudbright and the surrounding area, and it is thought that she modelled several of the characters in the book on real-life members of the artist community. As she lived right beside Oppenheimer, it is very plausible that she used him as inspiration for one of the characters. For example, the description of where the character Michael Water’s studio was located happens to match exactly the location of Oppenheimer’s own studio.
It has been suggested that Oppenheimer painted this work in the winter of 1933 or early Spring of 1934, and there is a framer’s label on the reverse dating to April 1934. It has further been suggested that this painting may have been exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 1935 under the title February Sunshine, Kirkcudbright, as indicated by an exhibition label affixed to the reverse dating to January 1935.
The present painting was bought by the barrister Andrew Nimmo Smith and hung in his house, The Haining, located in Selkirk. When Nimmo Smith passed away in 2009, he bequeathed the house and its grounds to The Haining Charitable Trust. In 2012, this painting appeared on BBC Two’s Antiques to the Rescue television programme, where the presenter is seen discussing Oppenheimer’s snow scene. Some of the contents of the house, including the painting, were sold in 2012 to raise money for the upkeep of the estate.
