Rare Impressionist paintings by renowned North and West Yorkshire artists head for sale

Having been in the hands of the same family since their execution, the collection comprises works by renowned artists Florence Hess and her mentor Mark Senior.

Mrs Sykes, the vendor’s great grandmother, served as cook in the Hess household in Leeds in the early 20th century, and her daughter spent a great deal of time at her mother’s workplace, where she became an informal companion to the young Florence Hess.

According to Sykes family history, the pair stayed in regular contact, and Florence gave her friend numerous paintings over the years to mark special occasions, including her wedding.

Born in Leeds, Florence Adelina Hess (1891-1974) studied at Leeds College of Art under tutor Mark Senior (1862-1927), who was a leading member of the flourishing Staithes School of artists who congregated at the picturesque fishing village on the North Yorkshire Coast.

The Staithes artists shunned the academic painting tradition, instead taking inspiration from the French Impressionists, painting en plein air and capturing the lives of everyday people.

As Senior’s most notable pupil and assistant, and having accompanied him on numerous painting trips to Staithes and to the Continent, the influence of Senior’s free-flowing and spontaneous style is evident in Hess’s own work, particularly her liberal use of azure.

She later became a member of the Fylingdales Group based on the North Yorkshire Moors, and in 1928 visited the Cornish artists’ colony in St. Ives.

Highlights of the collection include Hess’s Picnic by the Sea (estimate: £7,000-10,000, all figures exclude buyers’ premium), and Mother and Child in a Sun-Drenched Garden (estimate: £4,000-6,000).

The latter depicts the garden at Mark Senior’s home, ‘Hillside’ in Runswick Bay on the North Yorkshire coast, being enjoyed by a woman and child, thought to be Senior’s daughter Margaret Hudson and her daughter Mary.

There will also be a number of small works by the artist, with estimates starting at £180-250. Examples in the collection by Mark Senior include ‘The Beach’, which is inscribed on the reverse ‘from Mark Senior to Florence Hess’.

Also on offer in the sale is a selection of Yorkshire works from the collection of Alfred A Haley of Walton, Wakefield, which have been passed down through his descendants.

Alfred Haley was a wealthy mill owner, who supported various Yorkshire artists by buying their work, and in the process of doing so, became friends with many of them.

An amateur painter himself, he later owned a farm on the North York Moors and was made an honourable member of the Staithes School, where he spent a good deal of time.

Highlights of the collection include ‘October Fair, Leyburn’ by Fred Lawson (1888-1968) (estimate: £500-800), ‘Betty’ by Jacob Kramer (1892-1962) (estimate: £600-900), and ‘Wood Waggoners, Wharfedale’, by Herbert Royle (1870-1958) (estimate: £500-800).