LABORIE, PAARL
signed and dated in English David Botha .54. lower left; signed in English David Botha on a label on the reverse
oil on canvas
47.5 x 58.5cm; 18 3/4 x 23in
63.5 x 74cm; 25 x 29 1/4in (framed)

Property from a Private Collection, Cambridge

Provenance
Acquired from the artist
Sale, Strauss & Co, Cape Town, 14-25 April 2022, Modern, Post -War and Contemporary Art, lot 288
Purchased at the above auction by present owner

Literature
E. Berman, Art and Artists of South Africa, Cape Town, 1996, p. 69
G. Ogilvie, The Dictionary of South African Painters and Sculptors, Johannesburg,1988, pp. 77-78

David Botha was a second-generation follower of Cape Impressionism. He was born in Graaff-Reinet in the Eastern Cape in December 1921, and qualified as an art teacher from the Cape Town Teachers Training College in 1941. David Botha's first wife was artist Nerine Desmond. Botha taught art at various high schools in Paarl from 1946 until 1979. From 1950 to 1952 he studied at the Camberwell School of Art in London, and travelled through France, Italy, and Spain during this period. In 1967 he also travelled to Europe and to the Middle East. According to Berman (1996), Botha’s paintings preserve a record of the quietly aging atmosphere of the typical rural Cape towns, and enjoy extensive patronage, particularly in his home province.

Laborie dates to 1691 and is tucked beneath the foothills of the majestic Paarl Rock.