Anton Pieck
We have had a very interesting enquiry from Ron Wijk of Nieuw-Vennep in the Netherlands. Ron sent us images of two drawings made by the celebrated Dutch painter, Anton Pieck, simply annotated "Totley", and wondered whether we could identify their locations. Ron is an admirer and collector of the artist's work and he has followed his journeys and photographed the places he pictured with great care and considerable skill.
Anton Pieck's drawing and photograph taken in 1945
From various old photographs, particularly the one reproduced alongside, we were able to conclude that the first drawing was made from Butts Hill looking across the triangle of land at the junction of Hillfoot Road and Chapel Lane towards Totley All Saints Primary School on the higher ground beyond. The nearer of the two cottages was built in this triangle and was simply known as "The Cottage", with a workshop or stable to the left of the path which led to a gate on Hillfoot Road. Three generations of the Turner Family lived there from the late 19th century until 1978, (see Charles and Bernard Turner). "The Cottage" is now incorporated in a larger house known as Old Orchard, Hillfoot Road. The building behind, with the 2 x 6 pane window, is the original one-bay cottage at 3 Chapel Lane and the outline of the roof of the school is visible in the background.
Anton Pieck's drawing of the Hillfoot Road/Summer Lane corner
The second drawing is really quite exciting as it is a view of old Totley that many of us will never have seen either in the flesh or in old photographs as, to the best of our knowledge, the view has never been captured on camera. To the left of Anton's picture is number 1 Hillfoot Road which was built around 1830 and was originally a farmhouse but in around 1935 it became the village post office. In the surrounding wall in Anton's drawing, you can just make out an old well which used to overflow frequently causing water to stream down the road.
In the centre of the picture is a draper's shop and attached cottage that we think were built around the same time and which belonged to the Green family for many years. These three buildings were demolished, we think, in the late 1960s to make way for a new bus terminus which, in fact, was never built. Between the buildings, in the background behind the washing line, is the gable end of a large semi-detached house called Fern Mount, Baslow Road, built in 1901, and the only building in the drawing that is still standing today.
Old Post Office (left) and Draper's cottage (right)
To the right of the draper's shop is Summer Lane itself. The terrace of five cottages lower down the lane was built during the late 1830s and demolished in the late 1950s or early 1960s being said to be unfit for human occupancy. The demolition was greatly opposed. The whole area now lies within the Totley conservation area and these old buildings would have been preserved and would today command a good price.
Summer Lane in 1957
Anton Franciscus Pieck was born on 19 April 1895 at Den Helder, North Holland, one of twin sons born to Henri Christiaan and Petronella Pieck (nee Neijfs). With his brother Henri, Anton attended drawing lessons from the age of 6 and won his first art prize at age 10. After the family moved to live at The Hague, the two boys continued their studies at the Academy of Art. Having obtained several diplomas, Anton became an art teacher, firstly at the Academy and then from 1920 at the Kennemer Lyceum, a high school in the Haarlem suburb of Overeen.
Anton's first visit to England appears to have been in 1937 when, en route by ship to North Africa, he had time ashore in Southampton to made sketches of some of the old commercial buildings and to visit Winchester where he drew some of the old Tudor buildings and historic inns. He was able to continue his teaching throughout the war years, when he turned his artistic talent to producing false identification papers for members of the Dutch resistance. He retired from teaching in 1960. Anton Pieck was well respected for both his teaching and for his own prolific output which was in a variety of media including water colours, oil-paintings, drawings, etchings, woodcuts and engravings. He also produced illustrations for a range of books, greeting cards, calendars, jigsaw puzzles, postcards etc., typically in a nostalgic or fairy-tale like style which have become popular the world over.
Anton Pieck in 1980 (photo: Wikipedia Commons)
To try to date Anton's drawings of Totley, we have looked into his family history. Anton Pieck married Jo van Poelvoorde in 1922 and, between 1924 and 1928, the couple had two daughters and a son. Their eldest daughter Elsa married Charles Bambery, an Englishman, in 1951 and the couple made their home in England. Anton and Jo Pieck visited them many times, particularly after they had settled in Harpenden, Hertfordshire. The Harpenden History website has several drawings that Anton made of that area, all undated. From his daughter's home, Anton travelled all over England and Wales making drawings wherever he went, being particularly attracted by old buildings and picturesque scenes.
However, Anton Pieck's drawings of Totley probably date from the late 1950s or early 1960s when Elsa and Charles Bambery appear to have lived in our area. We have traced the birth of twins (one unnamed daughter sadly died) in 1956 and a son in 1959, registered in Sheffield to a Mr Bambery whose wife's maiden name was Pieck. The Sheffield telephone directories for 1961, 1962 and 1963 all record a Charles E. Bambery living at 20 Main Avenue, Totley.
A permanent public museum to Anton Pieck's work was set up in Hattem, Gelderland Province, and opened on 6 September 1984 by Princess Margaret and the artist himself (see Anton Pieck Museum). Anton Pieck died aged 92 on 24 November 1987.