Matilda Webb
@alfredwallis.bsky.social
13 followers 6 following 17 posts
Author of the new, in-depth biography of self-taught St Ives artist Alfred Wallis - www.alfredwallis.co.uk
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Really looking forward to getting involved at St Ives September Festival and talking with Ethan about one of our favourite subjects!
A great example of a non-nautical scene by Alfred Wallis is this one he sold to art critic Herbert Read, telling him he was proud of it as he found it "very difficult to shape a horse".

Read more about Alfred Wallis at www.alfredwallis.co.uk
Here Alfred Wallis has painted a striped donkey, and wrote "Their was a donkey Sold By aucton fetched 2000 pounds ad stripes like one duren The war i saw very Scarce To see one with stripes.”

This was likely to have been a zebra–donkey cross - a very rare hybrid known as a zenkey, zonkey or zedonk.
Alfred Wallis was said to paint the rigging of his ships in incredible detail. I didn’t fully appreciate this until I sat with his painting of a 'simple' topsail schooner and began labelling every part I could see. The schooner is thought to be the Belle Aventure, which Wallis sailed on in 1876.
alfredwallisbook

So exciting to see an Alfred Wallis painting that's been in a private collection since 1936. I believe Wallis has depicted three steamships travelling along the Firth of Forth towards the Forth Bridge, which he would have sailed under with the St Ives fishing fleet in the 1890s.
Thanks to everyone who came on Friday - it meant a great deal that St Ives residents marked such an important centenary - overlooked everywhere else - in such a fitting location on the harbour that Alfred Wallis loved to paint so much❤️
On 8 August 2025, it’s 170 years since St Ives artist Alfred Wallis was born - and 100 years since he began painting. Celebrate with Matilda Webb, author of ‘Alfred Wallis: Child Pauper to Artistic Luminary’, at an informal drop-in Q&A at the Rose Lodge, St Ives Wharf, 2–4pm, Fri 8 Aug. Cake served!