“ Anyhow it is a thrilling adventure for me because I shall see the sea again…Boscombe is next to Bournemouth, Bournemouth is next to Poole and Poole is next to Swanage. And there I am in my kingdom.” 1

By taxi they visited favourite sites and places in and around Dorset and the Purbeck, including Christchurch Priory which had been restored with the support of his uncle Reverend Zachary Nash, Curate-in-Charge until his death in 1883.

They travelled to Corfe Castle, Worth Matravers and visited the Barnards at Furzebrook Gardens, near Wareham. There are no finished drawings or watercolours from these or other visits this year.

By this time, Paul is relying on bottle oxygen and a face-mask to aid his breathing.

On 10th July, after working much of the day on a watercolour from the hotel balcony, Paul wrote to his brother ‘Jack’ Nash:

This is an unbelievable place … the sea view stretches from a glimpse of the Isle of Wight and S[outh] W[est] and those frightening Old Harry Rocks. And the whole wall is windows with a balcony (modern arch). Just beyond is a derelict pier …. All very queer & surrealist as young people say. 2

Paul passed away in his sleep on the night of 10/11th July 1946. He was 57 years old.

The Florida Hotel was renamed Victory Villas soon after the end of the war and converted into flats. Located high on one of the side roads near the steep descent to Boscombe Pier, the building is in the modern style of the period with a modest brick-towered entrance way giving off to several small flats each with a distinctive balcony facing towards the sea. Paul Nash’s view from one of these ledges would have encompassed the Isle of Wight to his left in the east through to Old Harry Rocks on the extreme right of his vision.

In The Times Archibald Russell recorded his deep sense of loss and speculated about his legacy: ‘As a painter Paul carried on the great tradition of Constable and Turner. High as is the esteem in which his work is held today, I would venture to predict that it will grow in fame.’ 3

Date: 1943

Title of artwork:

Maiden Castle

Medium and dimensions: Chalk and watercolour, with colour notes, H 28.6 x W 39.4 cm

References:

Anthony Bertram, Paul Nash, the Portrait of an Artist (London: Faber and Faber, 1955) p.238.

Andrew Causey, Paul Nash Catalogue Raisonné (Oxford, 1980) cat.no.1156, p.462, pl.390.

Penny Denton, ‘Seaside Surrealism’ Paul Nash in Swanage (Durlstone, 2002) cat.no.82.

Stephen Ongpin Fine Arts

https://www.stephenongpin.com/object/790343/0/maiden-castle-dorset

A painting from Nash’s tour of Dorset with Lance Sieveking in 1943, which also resulted in Causey nos.1125, 1127,1128, 1156, and 1157 (a version of 1156 / Denton no.82)