Finding the Mimosa bush

I’m thrilled to have got back this lost family painting.

The Mimosa Bush in Bloom is a water colour painting by my great grandfather John Lamb Secundus.

It was painted in South Africa in 1903. It hung at the family home in Bramhall, and I remember it fondly from my childhood.  In recent years, my aunt Violet Luckham had it, but after her death in 2009 it went astray.

While doing some research into the London to Hong Long panorama, I stumbled on an image of The Mimosa Bush on an auction house’s website . The lot was unsold and the painting had been returned to the vendor, so I made contact. He was an art dealer, who fortunately still held the painting. He’d found it in a charity shop in 2015 and had removed the frame to reveal this fascinating inscription.

Lepans farm Mancanzana – on the Road  Bedford to Queenstown  Cape Colony 

John Lamb April 1903.  The Mimosa Bush in bloom

Mankazana is misspelt on this inscription: it’s a river valley in the Eastern Cape region of South Africa.

Anyway the painting arrived today and is now at the framers. I’m keenly anticipating its return to join the other Secundus paintings next week.