For The King of Lle-Lfe, St Phillips, Iyekere by James ‘Stirling’ Gillespie

£795.00

Description

A highly unusual watercolour by (James) Stirling Gillespie available now for sale.

This original watercolour, titled ‘St Philips. Iyekere’ depicts a view of a school in a Nigerian town in the mid 20th century . This is a beautiful watercolour on paper, signed, 36 x 52 cm,  Mounted and framed under glass.

This work was painted by Stirling Gillespie for Sir Adesoji Tadeniawo Aderemi, (1889-1980) who was a powerful first class king in Nigeria and was the Ooni (King) of Lle-Ife, a town in Nigeria believed to be the cradle of the Yorubas. He was the king of Ile-Ife from 1930-1980 and was also a popular Nigerian political figure serving as the first governor of Western Region Nigeria from 1960 to 1967 (First African Governor of the British Empire). He was knighted by the king that reigned before the Queen’s father, the Queen’s father as well as her majesty and was given K.B.E (Knight of the British Empire) and K.C.M.G. He was a lover of art works and the painting  was a special work done for him by Stirling Gillespie and it is probably the painting of the first school in Ile-Ife (his native town) called St Phillips, Iyekere which he attended from 1901-1906 and was also a teacher there for 3 years.”

(James) Stirling Gillespie 1908-1993

James Gillespie junior known as throughout his working life as Stirling Gillespie Scottish artist born in Stirling Scotland. He specialised in landscapes – usually watercolour but was also known to work in a oils occasionally, his paintings often feature the west of Scotland. and in particular, the Isle Of Bute