South Hidden Paintings

It was one of those special moments in time when two great talents

collided - a famous writer and an eccentric painter, both with a

passion for the place Thomas Hardy called Wessex. And the result -

magnificent creativity and beauty, which the world never really got to

see. That is, until now. This is the Dorset which inspired Thomas

Hardy, and which in turn inspired Dorchester-born painter John

Everett - the Dorset that features in a set of paintings which have

barely seen the light of day. These hidden treasures not only shed new

light on the life of Thomas Hardy, but also offer a magical snapshot

In 1924, an artist called John Everett arrived on the south coast

to put paint to canvas. Everett was a posh Edwardian, and he did what

upper-class Edwardians did best, he indulged his passions. And

Everett's top passion was painting. But Everett hadn't come to Dorset

just to dreamily indulge a gentleman's hobby. He was here to

work. He'd been asked to produce a series of illustrations for a book

about his good friend Thomas Hardy. So, during the summer of 1924,

Everett travelled around Dorset painting landscapes that related to

Hardy's life and to his writing. But exactly what happened to these

canvases after that was until now bit of a mystery. Of the thousands

of oil paintings in our national collection, only a few can be on

display at any one time. These works of art are owned by you and

me, but most of us know very little about them. Some of our paintings

are so hidden away, we don't know they exist, let alone get to see

them. John Everett's paintings lay undiscovered for decades. My

mission is to unearth some of these paintings, and the ones I'm rooting

out will take me the length and breadth of Hardy's Wessex.

My journey starts here in Dorchester, the location for one of

Hardy's most famous novels, The Mayor Of Casterbridge. Until

recently, the Dorset County Museum had no idea they were in possession

of a collection of long-lost paintings by John Everett. But when

art historian Gwen Yarker read Everett's will, she discovered a

clue that led her to the archives. He'd left a collection of paintings

to the museum, but where were they? After searching high and low, Gwen

eventually found the paintings. They were in a box that had been

hidden away in a corner, forgotten for decades. So, you went digging

around looking for these works - how did you feel when you finally

came across them, it must have been magical? It was. Very relieved and

excited at the same time. It's always exciting to see a new body

of work from an artist that you're working on. That must just never

happen. How unusual is it to find a whole body of new work? It's

extraordinary. Particularly somewhere where you're actually

working, that was a particular surprise. It kind of demonstrates

that in museums, there are always little dark corners where brown

paper parcels are lurking, in this case, and lo and behold, there were

all of these pictures. So what have we got? We have here for instance

Corfe Castle, which is where Everett was living from 1907 to

1911. And Woodbridge Manor, which appears in Tess Of The

D'Urbervilles, and actually was where Everett was living in 1901.

Is that the D'Urberville House? There's Puddletown Heath, this is a

seminal view, Egdon Heath as we would have known it in Hardy's

novels. They're not impressionistic, which is really very much Everett's

style, because he's working on them with an eye to turning them into

prints, to turn them into a book of Hardy's Wessex. This one of

Sandsfoot Castle is a very strong graphic design. And also this one

of Maumbury Rings, which shows the great sweep of the Roman

amphitheatre. Clues to just how the paintings found their way to the

Dorset County Museum can be found in the archives. In 1936, a letter

from the museum arrived at Everett's home. A package of

paintings had turned up and the curators wanted to know what to do

with them. The paintings had been returned from America, where author

Ernest Brennecke had been planning to publish them in a book called

The Hardy Country. Everett wrote straight back that he'd wanted them

returned to his home county. There's still lots of questions

hanging over these paintings - why did he choose these locations?

What's the connection with Hardy's novels? Did they ever see the light

of day in Brennecke's book, and if not, why? I'd really like to track

down the spots where he painted and find out more about Everett the man.

This could be a good start for some of the answers. But before I set

off, Gwen, who's planning to publish her research on Everett,

has a challenge for me. I tell you what, Joe, what about when you've

done that coming back and seeing me and actually choosing one of the

Everett pictures which encaptures for you Hardy's landscape, and

we'll hang it in the museum, hopefully in the literary gallery

next to Hardy's own study. Really? So I get to choose one to go on

display? It would be wonderful. will come back and see you. Look

Dorset is Hardy country. So much of his work draws from this landscape.

My first stop is Higher Bockhampton. I'm going in search of Hardy's

roots. Now one of Everett's paintings is called Puddletown

Heath, and Puddletown Forest surrounds us here. This was Hardy's

backyard, he grew up in this cottage. Some of his classic works,

Far From The Madding Crowd, and Under The Greenwood Tree, were

Now, this painting just depicts plain heathland, but all I can

really see here is a load of trees, so I don't know how easy it is

going to be to actually find this Excuse me. I'm looking for this

viewpoint, I don't know if you've seen it at all, have you? If you go

up that way... Now, this looks like it could be the spot. It's really

difficult to tell, this is the most likely place I've seen. The general

landscape's right, we've got a bit of hill sweeping in, we've got, it

almost looks like an island, that hill in the middle, and we've sort

of got that in the picture. We've got wonderful light sweeping across

the heath, which we've also got in the painting. But clearly the

landscape has changed hugely. This is very plain, ever since there's

been a lot of trees planted. The landscape's still changing today.

They're chopping the trees down down there. So it might once again

look like this quite soon. Difficult to tell, but this was

obviously so important for Hardy, Egdon Heath. Not only was he

brought up round here, but it really features very prominently in

Return Of The Native and other works. In Native, it's almost a

character, it's so central to the story. So it was really important

that Everett would come here, he would capture this. This is one of

the crucial Hardy landscape locations in Wessex. And you do get

a sense of it from here, you really do. Yeah, I really think this could

be it. The next painting isn't as difficult to track down, and takes

This is Sandfoot Castle. It pops up in Hardy's novel The Well Beloved.

Now, the first thing to say, looking at the castle today, is, it

has barely changed at all from the painting. It was one of two castles

built by Henry VIII in the 1530s, the other one being across on

Portland. The idea being both would protect this bay. In the 400 years

that followed, water eroded the cliff, and it has tumbled down into

the sea. What I like about it is, I think it's been painted very

cleverly. I think there's two paintings here, he's slightly

cheated. The first painting is of the castle itself, very much as I'm

standing right now, dead on to the structure of the ruins. But then

there's nothing much in the background. So what Everett's done

is, he's basically come across here, he keeps coming, keeps coming,

until gradually, the Isle of Portland comes into view. It gives

more of a sort of intimacy to the bay, it's much more interesting

there's a lovely shape in the background. And also, you can see

here, he's painted a number of ships, particularly one with its

sails out. OK, today, it's not sailing ships, it's a military

frigate or something. I think for the first time on this journey, we

get a sense from this painting what Everett's key passion really was.

Everett was obviously a hugely talented painter, and he had a

strong connection with the landscape, but what else do we know

about Everett the man? When you look at his life, it seems almost

as chaotic as one of Hardy's books. For starters, his mother was pretty

unconventional. When Everett enrolled on a prestigious art

course in London, his mum not only travelled with him but also

attended classes. She was by all accounts quite a character. Everett

spent much of his childhood with recovering alcoholics whom his mum

was trying to save. Perhaps no surprise that later in life he

wanted to escape it all, and the sea was his retreat. Everett

travelled widely, but always returned to Dorset and whiled away

his days painting and sailing in his small cutter along the Dorset

coast. It's not surprising that Dorset's varied shores feature in

the collection. This painting of Gad Cliff near Tyneham is one of my

favourites. Nick Beck also has a passion for the sea, and for the

Amelie Rose, a replica pilot cutter similar to the one that Everett

would have sailed. I'm catching a ride to that authentic Everett eye

view, of the waters that he loved. What is it about this place that's

so special? I think the south coast, obviously we get some sunshine,

which is fantastic. There's also almost every different type of

sailing available. You can go creek crawling, you can disappear up

inside little rivers, you can go across big wide spaces, across Lyme

Bay - you don't see the mainland for a good couple of hours as you

go across. How do you feel when you're out here? There's nothing

more that Everett liked doing than seemingly to escape and spend some

time on his own. I don't know if he painted out here or saw it and took

it back with him, but what sort of feeling do you get? For me, it's

just fantastic, it's freedom. I used to work in an office. It's

just lovely to get out here where there's no real rules. The only

thing you're working is the tides and the weather, and whatever's

going on around you. And that gives you more than enough. There's

always something going on to keep your brain going, but it's just

incredibly relaxing, because you just get into what we call boat

time. This is probably as good as it gets, isn't it? This is the sort

of day he'd have longed for. sure he would have said a bit more

wind! We're going a bit slowly for your liking, are we? Well, we'll

try and sort that out later! Everett was obsessed by the sea. In

1898 he embarked on a series of voyages. Even dragged his poor wife

on a long crossing to Tasmania for their honeymoon. It didn't end well.

It may not have been as miserable as one of Hardy's plot lines but it

wasn't far short. Everett decided women, painting and the sea just

didn't mix. No prizes for guessing what he chose. Put it this way, it

wasn't his wife. They eventually separated. Edwardians loved

gallivanting around, and in many ways, Everett was the ultimate

Edwardian adventurer. What a great life he would have had out here on

his boat. So maybe I should choose a painting which encompasses

Everett's great passion, the sea. I'm intrigued by Ernest Brennecke,

the American author who was to write the book on Hardy and the

landscapes around him. We're pretty sure that the original book the

pictures were destined for was never published. So did any of the

paintings ever see the light of day? Well, a year later, in 1925,

Brennecke published an unauthorised biography called The Life Of Thomas

Hardy, a work not welcomed by Thomas Hardy himself. So could they

have appeared there? Well, I'm in luck. I've managed to get hold of a

copy. Here it is in the book, and we can clearly see, that is

Everett's painting of Max Gate. Thomas Hardy's home. And a there's

one more as well. There we go. Puddletown Heath. And this is the

only one in the book in colour. The rest of them were black-and-white,

what they call aquatint. But this book does provide some other clues

which are quite interesting. First of all, the front cover, Brennecke

was not shy in coming forward. He claims this is the first biography

of England's foremost novelist poet. He says it is a work which will

probably always stand as the most authoritative and comprehensive

book on the subject. Inside, we get a small sense of why Hardy was not

keen on this work. Brennecke writes of Hardy - when he is small,

somewhat stooped and kindly in manner. For Hardy, that must have

been an abomination. Remember, Brennecke had stayed with him at

Max Gate, and this would have been a betrayal for Hardy. Some of these

are not in the collection I have seen. This one, Hardy's Cottage,

not amongst the paintings I have seen at Dorset County Museum.

Another one here, a great picture of Dorchester high street, with

swirling clouds overhead, a very bold clock tower. Again, it is not

in the collection. It makes you wonder what has happened to those

paintings. The only thing we know is that they have not made it back

to Dorset to be part of the full collection. One of the paintings

that did make it into the biography is Max Gate, the home that Hardy

designed and had built. Clearly it was a special place for him. He

lived here for 40 years and he was famous for his hospitality. He

regularly had people round for tea, round to stay. So perhaps it is no

surprise that John Everett came and painted here. The custodian of Max

Gate is a Hardy scholar and enthusiasts, Jacqueline Dillion.

You will like this, Jacqueline, a picture painted in 1924 by John

Everett of Max Gate, pretty much at this angle. Do you think that could

have been Hardy himself sitting there? I think it could very well

have been. He could be writing a poem, he wrote lots of poems here,

set in the garden. -- sat in the garden. So this could be a still-

life artist painting a portrait, almost? I think it could be. Would

he appreciate these, did he like art? He loved art. From an early

age, he had a strong reaction to art. He even considered a career as

an art critic, and he spent a lot of time in art museums. In his

fiction, art plays a huge part, it is painting with words, really.

I right in thinking that Hardy's wife, Emma, was a painter?

painted, his sisters painted as well. It was much more important in

those times than it is today. did Hardy make of Ernest Brennecke

Jnr's book? It was a shock to the system in many ways. There was some

gossip, some conjecture, Brennecke really made some things up, and

Hardy was disappointed to see this. But at the same time, it prompted

him to write his own autobiography. So it was a catalyst, actually?

Completely, yes. And the task of writing his own autobiography

really occupied him for the rest of the life, and beyond! Because his

wife finished it off and published it as her own. So, Brennecke had a

pretty profound effect on him? did, yes. When Hardy moved in here

in 1885, Dorchester was a very different place. To find out more,

I have met up with a local resident. What would Dorchester have been

like in Hardy's time? He chose to live here. He was born only three

miles away, and never lost his affection for the place. Actually,

when he built Max Gate, it was just beyond the boundaries of Dorchester.

But the town has grown since then, to the west, to the south and to

the east, but it has never grown on this side. This was the edge of

town, not only in Hardy's day, but when it was the Roman town of

Durnovaria as well. He wanted to preserve life as he knew it when he

was growing up as a lad, because things were changing fast. In his

lifetime, they changed faster and faster. Something which still goes

on today - he was a Dorset boy, he loved this part of the world. He

spent most of his time here. Why do you think the Wessex landscape was

so important to him and to his writing, what was it about it?

he was growing up, he would have been very aware of the relationship

between man and the rest of nature. It was something which was

important to him. Despite his celebrity and so on, he never for

example changed sides on the issue of fox-hunting, he thought it was

an appalling thing. And so he wasn't doing himself any favours in

terms of the great and the good and the gentry by continuing to oppose

fox-hunting. And as a writer, as a poet, he was very radical. The

subtitle of course of Tess of the D'Urbervilles is, a pure woman.

Wow! What a challenge to the Victorian morals of the time! He

was ahead of his time. And it would be interesting for him to come back

and see how the town has both changed and yet stayed the same.

And we have a bit of both in Dorchester.

Many artists of the time were captivated by the Dorset

countryside. Artist Frederick Whitehead was another English

eccentric in the Everett mould. He roamed Dorset in a Gypsy caravan.

White had spent six months of the year living in the Rambler, as he

called it. His wife dressed as a Gypsy and told people's fortunes,

while Whitehead put brush to canvas. I have been told that one of his

paintings has mysteriously ended up here in Wareham, at the council

offices. My goodness, and there it is. That is absolutely huge. The

first thing which is very apparent is that this is a different style

to Everett. It is more naturalistic, it does not have those slightly

softer impressionistic sides to it. But it is the scale of it, it just

sits here in the stairwell, and half the time I think people come

and go and do not when I came in, the guy said, what are you here

for? Painting, what painting? Oh, that painting. It really makes you

think how many paintings like this are hidden in random buildings

around the country. Here, you cannot get in because of security,

it is very much behind locked doors, and no-one quite knows why it is

here, where it came from, they just know that at some point it was

donating. Right at the bottom there is a small inscription, which says,

the Purbeck Hills from the Frome. So it is a view of the Frome River,

looking across the meadows. It says, presented to this club in 1907. It

sounds like it when from the artist to some sort of club, who I guess

he in turn gifted it to the council. A bit of a mystery. Meanwhile, back

to the challenge to choose one of Everett's paintings. So car, I have

seen Sandsfoot Castle, Gad Cliff and Max Gate among others. But

which one should hang in the museum? Which one best represents

Hardy's Wessex? Perhaps Maumbury Rings in Dorchester would give me

some inspiration. Now this, I'm pretty sure this is the spot. The

rings will sweep away from you. The trees are still there, in fact I

think there's more trees now. You cannot really see the church in the

background. But this is pretty much exactly it, I think. And Maumbury

Rings is still favoured by artists today. The Dorchester Art Club is

out in force. Local artist John Grant is going to give me a

painting master class. I don't think I have picked up a paintbrush

since I was at school. It is great to see so many people appear

painting. We are looking at the Everett painting, which was from

about this spot. What is it that draws you guys up here? It is the

natural scenery of Dorset, all this area. Quite a sight, isn't it?

These bold, sweeping curves. Yes, quite. Right, would you like to

have a go? Yes, OK. Let's swap seats, then. I suggest you draw in

your eye level. Hold it between your fingers. I have never done it

before. Not everybody does it this way, but... Just a line across

there, to break the ice. Not much, but yes. Now look for a place to

put your focal point. So, this is as far as the eye can see, really?

Yes, that's right. And you have got this big sweep coming round here,

probably it comes off the page. I suggest you use this large brush

and sweep that across. It will start to run down in that way.

That's it. Maumbury Rings is featured in The Mayor Of

Casterbridge. Hardy describes the grisly tale of the hanging of a

woman for the murder of her husband. Thankfully, the atmosphere today is

a bit more laid-back. That's giving you the start for the right sort of

John, I'm not sure what else to do with it. I think the time has come

to leave it there for today. Yes, OK, but take it that you have got a

standing invitation to join the Dorchester Art Club whenever you

like. Thank you very much for coming to join us in our rural

idyll here. Just a few more painting locations to seek out. Of

course, the famous White Horse, Stinsford Church and Woolbridge

Manor, where Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Angel spent their

wedding night. So, an abundance of wealth, so difficult to choose just

one of those paintings to go on display. But I think I have made my

mind up. I'm off to the Dorset County Museum to meet up again with

art historian Gwen Yarker and see my they're painting on display.

Hello. It is on display, fantastic, Puddletown Heath, aka Egdon - what

do you make of my Everett choice? think you have made a very good

choice. It would not have been the one I thought you would have made,

but it is very dramatic, a very strong Hardyesque image of Dorset.

What did you think it might have they're? I thought you might have

they're Maumbury Rings, Sandsfoot Castle or perhaps even Max Gate,

but I can see why this has won out. Actually, Maumbury Rings came very

close, but perhaps it was more about the author and his home,

rather than the landscape. Yes, this gives you the isolation, the

bleakness of the Heath, I think it is a very powerful image, well done.

We found the Brennecke, which was very exciting. His painting appears

in it, and it is the only one in colour, which is curious. And there

are some I have not seen before, Dorchester high street, Hardy's

Cottage, presumably they are missing, are they? I have no idea,

presumably they are still out there. The one of the main street in

Dorchester is of future interest, and it would be wonderful to be

able to track them down and reunite them with the rest of the series.

That pretty much concludes my journey around Wessex. Anyone who

has ever picked up a Thomas Hardy novel or recited some of his poetry

will know exactly what this countryside means to the writer.

But to see Everett's paintings detailing the landscape as Thomas

hardy himself would have seen it is a privilege. And the really

exciting thing is the potential for further discoveries. Everett's

missing Wessex works must be out there somewhere, alongside who