Trivia slot (2 mins)
Anthony’s Venus
Mr Toastmaster, fellow Toastmasters and very welcome guests..
One day last summer I was taking an afternoon walk with an artist friend called Anthony Day who is in his 80s. He is renowned for his Fenland landscapes, and even the Duke of Edingburgh is reputed to have one in his private collection.
That day Anthony told me an amazing story of how he had just been reunited with a painting he had worked on 55 years ago as an art student and never seen since.
It was a nude of a woman in her mid-20s called Margaret Hewitson. His painting shows her from behind, her arms clasped around her raised knees, her head slightly bowed.
Anthony lent it to a friend who was a theatre producer and wanted to use it as a prop in one of his plays in Cambridge, but it was never returned.
The friend died and the painting was sold to a woman for £50, who kept it in her attic. It never saw the light of day, it was never admired or appreciated.. After she died, her husband decided to have it valued and contacted an art gallery who in turn contacted Antony He decided that he must buy it back and paid £500 cash, as well as giving the man two of his own paintings valued at £500 and £650 each.
When I saw the painting, I was immediately struck by the striking similarities between Margaret and myself and, on impulse, I asked Anthony if I could buy it. Anthony kindly let me have it at a good price.
Margaret would be in her 80s now and I would love to show her this wonderful painting, to let her know how much it is appreciated for the first time. The Cambridge Evening News ran a story trying to trace her, but with no luck.
I often wonder who Anthony’s Venus was, if she’d had a happy life and was well loved. That’s why I would like you all to remember the name Margaret Hewitson, just in case you come across her somewhere, if you should hear her name mentioned. If you do, please tell her I have her painting, that it is in good hands and she can see it whenever she wishes.
5th September 2006
