How often does this happen?  You come across a name you have never heard before, and then within a matter of a few days, you discover a second reference to it.  This was our experience with the artist Cor Visser.

We were in Ipswich, idling, minding our own business, when a blue plaque on a building in Fore Street caught our attention.  Dutch artist, Cor Visser, lived here, 1962-1982.  Never heard of him.  There was a small clipping about him pasted on the downstairs, left front window of the house, which gave a short, potted biography of his career.  Frankly, we paid it scant attention.  Not greatly interested.

A day or two later, we were visiting the site of Sutton Hoo.  As part of the visit we went inside Tranmer House, formerly the residence of Edith Pretty, recently portrayed in Netflix’s The Dig by Carey Mulligan.  Alongside a portrait of Edith herself was a matching portrait of her son, Robert Pretty, aged 8, and painted in 1940, only a matter of mere months after the discovery of the incredible Anglo Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo.

We were both struck by the vitality of this painting.  Young Robert is holding a model wherry, perhaps a nod towards the Anglo Saxon find.  He appears the epitome of optimistic boyish adventure; short-sleeved; energetic; smiling out from the canvas.  An Enid Blyton character brought to life.  A picture of innocent positivity and sunniness, little knowing that a devastating worldwide conflict is brewing on the immediate horizon.

And the artist of this excellent portrait?  

Cor Visser.

© Os Bros

Os Bros learn a valuable lesson not to be dismissive because of their own ignorance.