Page 11 - James Ward - A Lioness with a Heron

of a small catalogue on a masterpiece by Rousseau that the Gallery had pursued for five years and
subsequently sold to Williamstown and to cap it all the translation from Spanish, editing and extensive
rewriting of a weighty volume on Spanish sculpture to accompany our exhibition The Mystery of Faith that
same year.

By this time it had become clear to me while working so closely together that Andrea was possessed of
exceptional talent, not only her rare gift for verbal elegance in expressing herself in prose, but also the widest
of knowledge stemming from her early studies in classical art, through mediæval to Cinquecento drawings
and into new areas which she was only too ready and keen to grapple with although she had had little prior
experience of oil paintings. This essay on James Ward is just one such an example. In addition, to my
intense surprise, I learned that she was also an accomplished graphic artist having documented excavations
in Crete. She has demonstrated this ability in the Spanish sculpture catalogue and now again at my behest
to fulfill my fantasies on the cover of this catalogue.

When in 2010 there was a risk that Andrea might be tempted to pastures new my course of action was
patently clear. As announced in our last catalogue Révolution d République d Empire d Restauration. I took
the decision to change this Company’s name to Matthiesen & Gates in recognition of the growing
importance of Andrea’s role. It is both my considered wish and hope that Andrea shall drive the future
development of the business in the years to come. And thus it is that we see with The Lioness and the Heron,
a masterpiece of English early Nineteenth Century Painting, the issue of a further catalogue but this time
under the new imprint of Matthiesen & Gates, the first of many I believe. Andrea has researched new
information and presents a highly readable and fascinating account of a relatively little known, though
influential and important figure in British Art. I, for one, am well-pleased to be associated with this project
and to mark this occasion this catalogue has been dedicated to Andrea’s teenage son, Charlie, who may
quite justly feel proud of his mother’s past achievements and her burgeoning career in the London art world.

PATRICK MATTHIESEN

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