LE MAISTRE, Francis William Synge 1859-1940
F.W.S Le Maistre was born in St Aubin, the son of the Rev George Le Maistre and his wife, Augusta Low, of La Maison du Coin, St Brelade. He was related to Philippe Jean. From Reading School and Brighton College he went to King’s College, London, to study medicine, but he gave it up for painting. In London he stayed with his aunt, Miss Low, but returned to Jersey when she died. In 1899, his address is given as La Maison du Coin, and in 1907, he married Alice, daughter of Colonel Le Cornu of La Hague. They lived at Graystones, St Aubin, and then at Grey Gables, which he had built at the top of Mont au Roux. He sold the house and built another, Windward House, where he lived from 1925 till his death. He left several pictures to the Parish of St Brelade.
Le Maistre exhibited at the RA between 1895 and 1927. He painted in oils, with a vigorous and colourful palette. From his studio at La Corbiere he could see the sea and rockscapes of St Brelade’s, and many of his pictures come the parish: for example, La Pulente and St Brelade’s Bay (both reproduced by the Medici Society), Corbiere Quarry, Ouisane, Noirmont Pont and La Cotte. From St Ouen’s come Vraicking at St Ouen (1937), L’Etaq, Le Pulec and Le Pinacle, and from the South Coast Elizabeth Castle (seen from La Haule, with a cornfield), View towards Fort Regent and St Helier Harour. From Sark comes a view of Havre Gosselin. There are some pure marine scenes like Storm Surf at the JMM and Seascape and Rocks, which show highly competent handling of waves. Hemming states that Le Maistre painted the Guernsey coast from the 1890s till his death.
Source: Balleine, Hemming (Thanks to the Jersey Library Staff who found this entry in Dictionary of Painters of the Channel Islands by Philip Stevens)
Thanks to Simon James for collecting this information
