Family gather to celebrate Lakes artist

A reception to celebrate the life and work of the artist Jean Sturgis brought members of her family and friends to Grasmere.

An exhibition of Jean’s paintings, featuring the Lake District, particularly Kentmere, where she spent her last years, and Italy, will run until the middle of June.

But this was a family gathering, with several generations represented, and all very proud of Jean’s beautiful work from across the span of her career, revealing an artist of great sensitivity with a distinct and expressive vision.

We featured her life story here . Jean settled eventually in Kentmere where she developed a beautiful garden, Jean continued both to paint and to etch. Her later works retain all their sense of engagement and particularity. She said: “Landscape; buildings in their setting, whether urban or rural; trees and flowers in their surroundings: these have always been the stimuli for my work.”

The evening was a delightful informal event in our small and intimate space, with canapes provided by our head chef in Mathilde’s cafe, Rob McGill.

Here is Jean’s immediate family.

They are her husband, Tim, an architect, with four of their children.
From left to right:
The artist Daniel Sturgis; Alexander Sturgis, director of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford (and a magician member of the Magic Circle); Louise Frith-Powell, artist and head of art at Ampleforth College; and Matthew Sturgis, writer, biographer of Oscar Wilde, Aubrey Beardsley, Walter Sickert. Matthew is also co-author of The Chronicles of Downton Abbey, the official companion to all three seasons of the TV series.