This is an ongoing study of the life of Susanna Roope Dockery and her paintings.

Susanna was born in the Roope family home, the Quinta Amarela at Largo da Aguardente on 13th February 1856. A house long gone and the area is now known as Jardim de Marquês, in Oporto. She was the fourth child of Cabel (1823-1880) and Elizabeth (1828-1902) Roope. Cabel Roope, was a son of another Cabel Roope, a member of a prominent family long settled in the Dartmouth area of South Devon who had become part of the small British community in Oporto. Her mother Elizabeth Whitaker was from a long-established family in Bampton, Oxfordshire. Extracted from the website: https://portosecretspots.com. Susanna Roope grew up in Oporto and was married in Oporto on 21st May 1878 to Alfred Victor Dockery, previously US Consul at Oporto, but subsequently based at the US Consulate in Leeds, England. She moved to Leeds where their first child Roderick was born in 1879, followed by twins George and May in 1883. In 1885 however Victor resigned his consulship and they moved to Carthage in Richmond County, North Carolina, fairly close to Victor's family home. In 1891 Susanna parted from Victor sailed for England with the children. There is little evidence of her painting while she was with her husband, either in Leeds or during the years she lived in America. She settled with her mother Elizabeth Roope in a cottage at Witley in Surrey and we assumed this was her home for the next few years. Susanna's mother passed away in 1903 and it is assumed that around this time she moved permanently to Portugal. Back to 1891, she had started associating with other artists in the area of Haslemere, such as Claude Hayes R.I., the son of Edwin Hayes, the marine painter and member of the Royal Hibernian Academy and it appears to sustain herself financially, she started painting professionally. At this stage it is worth mentioning the biography of Susanna called Different Worlds by Jonathan Rawes, published in 2024, a useful source for Susanna's movements and the world in which she lived. Susanna with Roderick in 1879. 1891 - 1903 - Surrey and Portugal Susanna was obviously a talented artist from early on, as evidenced by her painting of Mont Blanc back in 1875, when she was aged 19. We know of three or four of her paintings that are probably local to Witley, however, for her new career Susanna chose rural life in northern Portugal. This suggests that she must have already been familiar with her chosen subject, which would have entailed much sailing back and forth to Portugal, plus extensive travel in northern Portugal. A railway network had been established in fairly recent times from Lisbon to the northern frontier with Spain plus a spur up the Douro Valley, otherwise travel was by horse, mule and carriage or coach. Her main residence however appears to have been with her mother in Stoke and Witley in Surrey. In the 1901 census, Susanna was recorded as living 212 Crawley Road, Stoke in Surrey with her mother Elizabeth widow, her brother Frederick retired Royal Navy Commander, Kate her sister and six servants. Susanna was described as an artist. While she was visiting in Portugal, it is assumed that she stayed with her extended family and used them as bases to explore local surroundings. Some of her paintings however were much further afield, such as down to Lisbon, east to Pinhão and north to the Spanish border at Caminha. This coverage must have been covered during these years. Susanna's exhibitions Between 1894 and 1909 we know of a number of exhibitions of her work, one in Haslemere, several in London and two in Lisbon (see under Exhibitions). During these exhibitions it is assumed she would have appeared in person. In 1894 five of Susanna's paintings appeared in an exhibition arranged by The Haslemere Society of Artists. There was another exhibition at the prestigious Dunthorne's Gallery in London in 1897 with 76 of Susanna's paintings. Her output was astonishing and prolific, particularly since she had three young children, had only started painting professionally in 1891 and her subject matter was in another country. In 1899 she held an exhibition Costumes of Minho and Douro watercolours in Lisbon when the Queen of Portugal purchased two of her paintings. At the turn of the century Susanna and her larger Roope family stayed at Viana do Castelo on the border of the Minho. Her niece Elsie Standring left a detailed diary that recorded this event (see elsewhere on this site). It writes of much walking, horse riding and also visiting Afife and gives us a lovely window into her world. This was certainly not her first visit to the north as several of her paintings in the exhibition of 1897 were of scenes in the Minho. She had obviously fallen in love with Afife as at some stage she rented a cottage in Afife. Many of her sketches and paintings are of harvesting and winnowing and rural life around Afife and were probably painted during this time. Her last known exhibition was in 1909 when she exhibited in Lisbon. Presumably inscription was a follow on from the publication of Portugal, its Land and People by W.H. Koebel, which contained 21 of her paintings, in which we get the full impact of her finished works. 1903 - circa 1912 - Eire Vehla It is believed that after the death of her mother, Susanna left Surrey to live in Portugal, it is not clear however where she moved to and this poses a number of questions. She had family at Eira Vehla on the Douro from 1901; Vila Nova de Gaia and Lavadores. We do have vague pointers however: Susanna's brother-in-law had become manager at Eira Vehla in 1901 and many of Susanna's paintings are of the area. It is clear that she spent some time there but this may have been seasonable. There are two homes in Lavadores connected to Susanna - one a small rustic cottage and the other, a more substantial house on the seafront, both near relatives and especially after 1913, to her daughter May, who had married Prescott Rawes in 1913 - Prescott and May lived had a summer retreat in Lavadores. Francis Rawes (my uncle born in Oporto in 1916), remembered visiting Susanna (the grandchildren called her Vovo!), while she was living in her cottage in Afife, but this was in the early 1920s. Susanna died in Lavadores in 1927. Susanna would have probably known all three of the above places by the time she moved back to Portugal. The first port of call however was probably at the quinta Eira Vehla, above Pinhão, on the upper reaches of the Douro. In 1897, this had become the home of her sister Catherine (Kate) Roope (1869-1963). Kate had married Arthur Dagge and Arthur became the manager of the newly acquired Roope estate at Eira Velha above Pinhão in that year. While at Eira Vehla, she painted prolifically; scenes of mostly grape harvesting and assorted processes which went into the production of port wine. She clearly used this home as a base, not only for painting, but for sightseeing etc. The above date of 1910 was chosen as in 1907 or shortly afterwards, Susanna painted the "New Road" up to Eira Vehla, that Arthur Dagge, her brother had paid for its construction. The quinta however was not particularly suitable to women. It was rough, hard and bitterly cold in the summer and very hot in the summer. circa 1911 - 1927 - Lavadores and Afife Lavadores was a beautiful and favoured spot for members of the Roope family and indeed for the English community as a whole, especially during the summer months. The Oporto Golf Club, one of the oldest in the world, was just down the coast at Espinho and the Roope's already had large villa, close to the sea at the end of the main road from Vila Nova de Gaia. Susanna is known to have lived in a cottage in Lavadores and some of her paintings were of the surrounding area. One of Susanna's paintings is inscribed "Lavadores 1914" and in that year she was aged 60. It is by then she had restricted her movements to Lavadores, Oporto and Afife, which was easely reached by Train. In 1913 Susanna's daughter had married Prescott Rawes, son of Frank & Emma Rawes, who lived in a large house in Campinhã in northern Oporto, and we know that she painted at least one scene in the garden. We a have photograph of a rustic cottage at Lavadores, but we do not know when Susanna lived in it or when she moved to the house on the seafront. The cottage was close to other members of the family but, although my father photographed the cottage in 1981, it has not been traced so maybe it has now (2026) been demolished. Lavadores was a favoured home for other family members: Kate and Arthur Dagge had probably moved down from Eira Vehla and lived in a large house on Rua de Estampara de Lavadores. Across the lane was the (since 1913) home or summer residence of Prescott and May Rawes; Susanna's Roope family had lived in a large house overlooking the coast at the end of the main thoroughfare Rua de Bélgica. Towards the end of her life, Susanna lived virtually next door to the old Roope house. My uncle, Francis Rawes, the eldest of a family of four, was born in Oporto in 1916, presumably at the large Rawes family home in Campinhas. He published his memoirs privately in 2004 and wrote about his early life in Oporto, Lavadores and Afife before being sent to school in England in 1926. We fortunately have photographs from 1981 when my father Bernard, Francis' brother, visited Lavadores. One can see a rustic cottage (232) which was Susanna's first home in Lavadores; her sister Kate lived in a large house (230) on Rua de Estempara de Lavadores; and in the same lane and opposite Kate's house (240 & 241), lived Prescott & May during the summer months; another photograph depicts the Flower's house (234 & 235), once the home of the Roope's; and lastly, Susanna's last home (235), on the opposite corner to the Flower's house, in a grand position overlooking the sea. Unfortunately, we have few fixed dates. Into this mix we have to include Susanna's time in her cottage at Afife. Photo 232 - "Grandmother's [Susanna's] cottage, now divided up". Susanna's old cottage has so far not been traced, so it may have been demolished since then. Photo 230 - "Aunt Kate's house on the left, our house on the right". The street or lane is Rua de Estampara de Lavadores, now a somewhat run down part of old Lavadores. Kate's house has been altered but is still standing; the 'Rawes' house opposite, is now enclosed by a high wall and trees and is called 'Casa Clotilde Fonseca'. Photos 240 & 241 - "Lavadores House [Rawes House]", where Prescott, May and children stayed. It is situated in Rua de Estampara de Lavadores and is now called 'Casa Clotilde Fonseca'. Photo 234 & 235 - "Flower's house (formerly Roope's) with grandmother's house on left". The Flower's house still exists, although greatly altered. The house is situated at the end of the Rua de Bélgica; Susanna's house is on the left is still existing, although much altered. In between the two houses is the end of the Rua de Bélgica. On the 16th May 1983, my father and Barbara (my step-mother) went for tea with Beryl and Tina Yeatman in the garden of their house in Vila Nova de Gaia (near the Rua do Conselheiro and the Boeira Garden Hotel). The Yeatman's were close friends of the family and owned the Quinta da Vargellas at Pinhão on the Douro and controlled the Taylor's wine firm. Arthur Dagge's sister Helen had married Frank Yeatman my father Bernard visited Beryl and Tina Yeatman in their house in Lavadores in 1983. 245 - the Yeatman house in Vila Nova de Gaia with Barbara Rawes & Beryl Yeatman. Where does Afife fit in? Susanna was certainly living in Afife in the 1920s as described by Francis Rawes: in my uncle Francis Rawes' memoirs, he writes of the cottage at Afife as being somewhat primitive and, apart from selling her paintings, she would sell "home-spun wares made by local women". There are a large number of Susanna's painting relating to Afife and the surrounding area, a place she clearly loved and spent much time at. Susanna later in life. Susanna Roope Dockery died on 20th September 1927 at Frank Yeatman's house Quinta da Boeira in Vila Nova de Gaia and was buried in the English Cemetery in Oporto.

Where Susanna lived and where she visited in Portugal.

Most of Susanna's paintings and sketches are not located or dated. The identification of the scenes of her paintings, after so much time, has proved difficult, but the process of that identification has helped us to build up a picture of her movements, her bases and travels in Portugal. The location of these scenes, extend from the Lisbon area all the way up to Caminha on the border with Spain. Because of the factual quality of her paintings and their subjects, we have made much progress into tracking the tricky problem of where she painted. Even more of a problem is when she painted them. This is an attempt to record both where Susanna painted her subjects. After she had separated from her husband Victor Dockery in 1991, her career started back in Surrey, where she lived with her mother and there are two of three of her paintings that relate her stay there. Her base was living with her mother in Surrey from 1891 until probably when her mother died in 1903. A lot of Susanna's work dates from the 1890s when she made frequent trips to Portugal. While there, she would have stayed with her extended family, such as at Eire Vehla with her sister Kate. Her movements then becomes more vague. We have three main options for where she lived: with her sister Kate at Eira Vehla, the cottage at Lavadores, and the cottage at Afife. Lisbon Susanna exhibited in Lisbon in 1899 and 1909 and painted at least three paintings in the vicinity of the Royal Palace at Sintra and the Belém Tower on the coast to the west of Lisbon. There is no record of her staying in the area for any length of time and probably stayed with extended members of her family. Nazareé There is only one of Susanna's paintings known from Nazaré, so there likelyhood is that she only visited the place once. Espinho The next identified location is on the coast at Espinho, some miles south of Lavadores. Espinho was known as the location of a vibrant sardine industry where many traditional sardine boats are seen lying on the beach. The place was a favoured resort for the English community and a golf course was established here in 1890, later being called the Oporto Golf Course. The club even hosted the 'Skeffington Cup, the oldest golf competition in the world, inaugurated in 1891 and played annually'. We know of a number of paintings relating to sardine boats and one of Susanna's paintings in 1897 was titled 'The Last Hole, Espinhoe. We have no knowledge of her actually living here but she must have stayed or visited on a number of occasions. Her base may have been from her cottage in Lavadores. Lavadores Susanna lived in a cottage at Lavadores on the Atlantic coast just south the of estuary of the Douro. She had moved here in 1914 and the area features prominently in her paintings. Apart from 'Gun Rock' however, they have been difficult to locate - Lavadores has been developed heavily in modern times and the area has changed beyond recognition. After the Dagge's left Eira Vehla they moved to Lavadores. My father Bernard Rawes visited Lavadores in Aug 1981 and took the following photographs. With photo 230, I am sure sure of the term "our house on the right". Vila Nova de Gaia As we travel north, this place is the next port-of-call, which is perched on the south bank of the Douro opposite to Oporto. It would have caught Susanna's attention as at some stage it was a Roope family home, a base for the great port lodges. A number of her paintings are of Oporto from the south bank of the Douro. There are also three paintings of boys sitting on the quayside, one probably dating to 1894 or earlier. Oporto This was her home town, the place of her birth, and of course it attracted her attention. There are paintings of the river front and steep streets, but there are not as many as one might think. There is at least one scene painted in the garden of the Rawes family situated in the northern suburbs of the city on the junction of Rua de Felizardo de Lima and Rua Direita das Campinas. Susanna's daughter May had married Prescott Rawes in 1913, the grandfather of Jonathan Rawes and myself. We rediscovered the house on a visit in 2025. It is a large house with a garden enclosed by a high wall. Susanna would have stayed here when visiting her daughter. But it was the rusticity and light of northern Portugal that really attracted her. The Rawes House in Campinas, Oporto. The Douro and the Quinta de Eira Vehla Susanna painted many scenes on the Douro from the Estuary and Oporto up river to Pinhão and beyond; paintings of river craft such as the old Douro wine boats plus the vistas of the bending and winding of the river through ever steeper terrain towards the quintas and vineyards, which grace the terraces above Pinhão. Once in this area Susanna's paintings quadruple with scenes of mountain roads, vineyards, olive groves and in particular, folk involved in the wine-making process. This was almost certainly in the adega at the Quinta de Eira Vehla, the home of her sister Kate and husband Arthur Dagge. Judging by the number of paintings of the area this must have been her base for some time and probably became her second if not her first home after leaving England to settle back in Portugal. Susanna's painting of the view from the quinta. Eira Vehla is one of the oldest quintas in the area and commands magnificent views across the Douro Valley and Pinhão far below. The name Eira Vehla literary means threshing floor and the first record of it is back in the medieval period. A history of the quinta is to be found in Port Wine Quintas of the Douro by Alex Liddell, Quetzal Editores, Lisboa, 1992. Hunt, Roope & Co. had traded with the owners of Eira Vehla from 1809 and had made wine on the quinta from 1828. It was in 1893 however that Hunt, Roope and Co. purchased the property and it was likely that at this time Arthur Dagge, became its manager. Arthur Dagge had married Kate, Susanna's sister, and had taken on the management of Eira Vehla, possibility as a wedding gift for Kate his sister. At the time of Susanna's illness and subsequent death she was staying in the Yeatman house, Quinta da Boeira in Vila Nova de Gaia. Power Dagge 1814-1879 = Francis Swift 1834-1919 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | | | Arthur Edward Herbert Richard Frances Ada Helen George Meade Swift Power Grant Bowden May Featherstone Gordon 1855-1927 1859-1903 1860-1924 1862-1925 1863-1915 1867-1951 1869-1949 187?-1926 = Catherine = Frank Pym Roope Stanley 1869-1956 Yeatman 1869-1950 The company increased the size of the estate by adding Fraga de Baixo in 1901 and Sagrado in 1904. This mention of the name Sagrado is important to us as "The road to Sagrado is mentioned on two of Susanna's paintings and its location was hard to pin down. Map of the Douro Quintas from The Story of Port by Sarah Bradford. In 1907 the property was "transferred to Arthur Dagge, as one of the Company's directors, as his share capital in the firm. One of the other directors was Susanna's brother, Cabel Roope, a well-known and colourful character in and around Oporto. It is at this stage, or shortly afterwards that Arthur Dagge improved the road up to the quinta. In the 1880s–1890s, the road system around Pinhão was being improved. This did not include the lengthy mule track or bridle-path that wound its way up from the valley floor to Eira Vehla and beyond. There is a delightful story concerning the lengthy mule track that climbed up from the Douro to Eira Vehla:- "The beautiful quinta of Eira Velha, perched upon a shoulder of the hills overlooking the Pinhão valley, could for many years only be approached by the roughest of bridle-paths. Arthur Dagge had long wished to build up to the house from the main highway in the valley, but his requests were invariably turned down by the Juiz dos Orfãos in view of the fact that the young Cabel Roope was both a minor and an orphan (Cabel Roope had died by then). Dagge at last took desperate measures. He built the road and then invited the learned judge - who came from far afield - to visit the quinta with his wife. The two arrived at Pinhão one dark evening, and were led up the bridle-path on donkeys, the donkey-boys having been instructed to make the journey as uncomfortable and frightening as possible. Next morning, when the time came for the judge and his wife to leave. a taxi was waiting to drive them down to the train. Not a word was said, either then or ever again, upon the subject of the road." Painting srd311 depicts the new road with her title "New Road at Eira Vehla". Unfortunately, a date is not given but it is assumed to have been after Arthur Dagge purchased the property in 1907. The alignment is still used today. It is not clear when Susanna left Eira Vehla or indeed when did Kate and Arthur. In Port Wine Quintas of the Douro by Alex Liddell, p. 108, it stated that Arthur Dagge, was also involved with Quinta do Roeda, down beyond Pinhão, from 1921 to 1927 - he had managed the re-building of its adega. This is the only reference found that supports that Arthur was in volved in Roeda. Both and Susanna and Arthur passed away in 1927, within three months of each other and are plot in a family plot in the English Cemetery in Oporto. Arthur left Eira Vehla to Frederick Roope 1911-1986, part owners of the old Hunt, Roope & Co, which itself was sold to Ferreirra in 1956. Frederick Roope's son Noel Roope remembers visiting the quinta on two occasions, the first being just after WW2 when Noel was 7 or 8. He remembers vividly going on to balcony and saw orange and lemon trees laden with fruit. On his second trip in 2015, he remembers it as being sadly neglected. The quinta is now renovated and open to air b&b. Susanna's Time at Eira Vehla: At Eira Vehla Susanna spent much time with her easel. The house had two stories, a garden terrace, not out of keeping in Regency Cheltenham. It was a magnificent vantage point with sweeping views across the Douro Valley. In the vicinity and possibly in view from the house was a 'pombal' (dovecote). A pombal is the Portuguese for dovecot and they were apparently a feature in this area; Susanna depicted the pombal in one of her paintings. The quinta was not just a house, a place to live, it was a working farm and surrounding it was the adega (farm buildings), the working part of the quinta, where no doubt the buildings housing the presses, grape harvesting machinery etc. are positioned. It is now realised that many if not all of Susanna's depictions of the wine producing process set inside a building or buildings, would have been painting here. Susanna also spent much time on the roads leading to and from the house, along the vine terraces and amongst the olive groves, sitting or standing quietly as she sketched and painted her many paintings. photograph extracted from the Taylor's Port website. The wine-making process at Eira Vehla. The interior is unmistakable - the stone walls, timber beams, and enclosed light of the adega are entirely consistent with Eira Velha. The baskets of grapes around the lagar confirm that this scene follows directly from the filling stage depicted in paintings srd012 and srd085. The above painting, published in Portugal: Its Land and People, in 1909, is one of Susanna’s most vivid and character‑rich depictions of pressing the grapes inside the lagar (pisar uvas). The deep burgundy‑red must (freshly crushed grape juice containing skins, seeds and stems), forms the base of the composition, but the true brilliance of the painting lies in the depiction of the men themselves, each caught in a different gesture, as if she had pressed the shutter of a camera - a moment of life frozen in time, Susanna is not painting anonymous workers, she is painting individuals: Two men are smoking, relaxed, utterly at ease, their pipes or cigarettes held casually as they tread, their presence gives the scene a social, almost convivial atmosphere; a man is holding what is probably a banjo, adding the likelihood of music to the scene; a man with his hand behind him, is possibly dancing, his posture is light, almost playful, suggesting a rhythmic movement - Douro workers traditionally sang and moved in coordinated steps - and Susanna may be capturing a moment of that rhythm; Another man is holding his hands up - perhaps gesturing to a companion, perhaps caught mid‑conversation, perhaps reacting to Susanna herself; and then there is the man looking directly at her - this is the most extraordinary detail, he meets her gaze with complete immediacy, as if posing for a photograph. His expression is alert, curious, and slightly amused. This single glance anchors the entire painting in lived reality. Why this painting matters is because it is not simply a record of treading grapes, it is a record of human presence, movement, humour, and labour. Susanna captures the camaraderie of the adega - men working, talking, smoking, gesturing, laughing, and acknowledging her presence. It is one of her most remarkable achievements: a moment of Douro life preserved with photographic immediacy, a record of times past and now lost to us. We finish off with the end process, the work is done and the product is ready for testing. In the meditative painting below is a lone man sitting by the lager holding what appears to be a tester. The man appears to be young, his clothing and confident handling of the tester imply someone with responsibility in the adega, and it is entirely possible that Susanna has painted her brother-in-law Arthur Dagge, Manager of the Eira Velha. Arthur Dagge was in possession of Eira Vehla until he died in 1927 when he is believed to have left it to his wife's nephew. Brage & Barcelos There are at least two of her paintings which have been identified as from Brage and Barcelos. These are places where she possibly stayed on single occasions. Viana do Castelo Further up the coast is Viana do Castelo on the northern bank of the Lima is the next venue where we know Susanna visited on more than one occasion, certainly in 1900. She was particularly interested in the ruined convent outside Viana. Afife Our next place of interest is the village of Afife. Susanna rented a cottage. It is situated on the left-hand side the main road as one approaches the settlement sandwiched between the road and the railway line. Many of Susanna's sketches and paintings were produced in and around Afife and the convent at Cabanas, which is situated just above Afife. It is not known when she first visited Afife but it would have been in the 1890s. Susanna's house in Afife. There are many scenes from in and around Afife, but her main attention appears to be the home industry of the women and agrarian studies in the wheat and corn fields between the village and the sea. This is not to diminish the importance of her paintings of local churches, shrines, wells, countryside crosses etc. Ancora is just north of Afife and at least one painting is known, that of the cottage industry of weaving. Caminha Situated on the border with Spain and the estuary of Rio Minho, it is represented by several of her paintings. Julian Rawes, Crooked Walls, Harvington, 2026.