Status of Original Painting – For Sale

All prices are in Canadian dollars

Size: 12 x 20.6  inches

Price: Inquire

Medium: Watercolour on 300 lb Arches

Description:

This is a wintry view of the lighthouse and remains of WWII bunkers at Fort Amherst, which mark the “The Narrows,” the entrance into the protected harbor of St. John’s, Newfoundland.

In 1771, the King of England ordered that a defensive tower be built on this site to defend the fishing grounds from the French. A tower and battery were completed in 1777, armed with eight cannons and eventually piercings for twenty guns in total. The site was named for Lieutenant General William Amherst, who’d led the recapture of St. John’s from the French in 1762. The site was later abandoned by British forces and fell into disrepair.

A lighthouse was built on top of the remnants of the battery in 1813. World War I saw the battery partly rebuilt in anticipation of action but it was never needed. But by 1941 St. John’s had become strategically important for convoy ships headed to the war in Europe. A U-Boat attack on a steamer ship entering the harbor in March of 1941 emphasized the need to upscale the harbor’s defenses and increase the military presence. By the fall 1941 Fort Amherst was armed with two 25-foot-long quick fire (QF) 4.7-inch B Mark IV guns, and featured officers’ quarters, a canteen, quarters for 92 soldiers, and several other buildings. By June 1942, new anti-torpedo nets crossed the harbour and a controlled minefield guarded the entrance.

After the war, Fort Amherst was decommissioned and handed over to the Newfoundland government. The original stone lighthouse was demolished in 1954 and replaced with the new one seen today. Two bungalows were also constructed to support the lighthouse keeper. But the military structures were allowed to crumbled away in response to the elements, with pieces tumbling down the cliffs and into the ocean. Today the remnants are covered in graffiti (some of those colors are evident in this painting) and off limits to the public due to being structurally unsafe. Both guns remain on site with one still visible in this painting, pointed straight toward viewer (but probably too small to discern in the reduced resolution of this on-line image). There is a small museum and gift shop on site and the lighthouse can be visited.

More details about the history of Fort Amherst are available here and here and here.

When I originally took the reference photo from atop Signal Hill (the other side of The Narrows), I thought it wouldn’t work for a painting because much of the site was in shadow. But then I realized that the shadowed snow was a bright blue, contributing to a lovely range of contrasts, textures, and colors to work with. I love how the carved cliffside is outlined by white or blue lines of snow instead of the usual dark crevices.

I’ve painted Fort Amherst twice before, first in “Lighthouse at Fort Amherst” and then a summertime view similar to this one in “Narrows Below.”