Showery Weather, by Inglis Sheldon-Williams (1870-1940). 1923. Medium: oil on canvas (relined). 25.5 x 30.75 in. (64.8 x 78.1 cm). Signed and dated lower left, and titled on the stretcher verso. Provenance: Collection of James E. Lanigan (Calgary AB), noted art collector and historian specializing in early Saskatchewan art. Note: Interestingly, a frame-mounted presentation plaque reads "Presented by Dr. H.L. Jackes 1944," denoting the gift of this work to the Assiniboia Club, Regina SK. The remnants of an exhibition label remain on the backing board.
As explained in our brief biography of Inglis Sheldon-Williams, he was 17 when he emigrated to Canada with his mother in 1887. For four years, the artist homesteaded at Cannington Manor, an English colony in southeast Saskatchewan, which was established with an agricultural college where young Englishmen were taught to farm in the prairies. He returned to his native England around 1890, where he attended the Slade School of Art, and then spent time travelling across India, Europe, and South Africa, providing illustrations for magazines and English periodicals. But in 1913 he came back to Canada with his wife, settling in Regina until 1918. Though he stayed for only a short period, Sheldon-Williams had a significant impact on the early art community, founding the School of Art at Regina College in 1916, and regularly fulfilling commissions for his landscapes, and portraits of multiple high-ranking officials. During this time, he met and became friends with lawyer and art collector Norman Mackenzie, the namesake of the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina. Despite these successes, Sheldon-Williams became restless in the prairie community, and in 1918, he returned to Europe as an official war artist. Although he never returned to live in Canada, he still sent work overseas to be sold in the Canadian market.
Showery Weather, dated 1923 in the lower left, was created during a period when Sheldon-Williams was living abroad, although he was attempting to return to the prairies and sending selections of his paintings to Canada. This one shows a fine pair of carthorses, a chestnut and a grey, with all their tack, including blinkers, following a farm wagon across an open field. In charge is a young lad, one hand on the reins, looking perfectly relaxed in one of the saddles, and above are rolling clouds, with a rainbow visible in one corner, indicating the kind of weather. A peaceful scene of agricultural life, it would surely appeal to the market there. In fact, in the following year, the L.C.W. Art Committee of Regina held a solo exhibition for his work, and Sheldon-Williams continued to participate in group shows in the city.
Showery Weather was purchased by Dr. Harvey L. Jackes, a physician in Regina and avid community member. Jackes became president of the Assiniboia Club of Regina in 1940, a private club founded in 1882 that hosted many powerful politicians and professionals. The painting remained in the club’s collection until its closure in 2007, when it was deaccessioned and purchased by its most recent owner. The work was put up for auction in February 2025 at Hodgins Art Auctions.
Created 6 March 2025