RTS RWNSADWTROOR 06 WATERCOLOURS 2016 AND DRAWINGS BRITISH BRITISH DRAWINGS AND WATERCOLOURS 2016 GUY PEPPIATT FINE ART
GUY PEPPIATT FINE ART LTD
Riverwide House, 6 Mason’s Yard Duke Street, St James’s, London SW1Y 6BU GUY PEPPIATT FINE ART BRITISH DRAWINGS AND WATERCOLOURS 2016
1 Guy Peppiatt started his working life at Dulwich Picture Gallery before joining Sotheby’s British Pictures department in 1993. He soon specialised in early British drawings and watercolours and took over the running of Sotheby’s Topographical sales. Topographical views whether they be of Britain or worldwide have remained an abiding passion. Guy left Sotheby’s in early 2004 and has worked as a dealer since then, first based at home, and now in his gallery on Mason’s Yard, St James’s, shared with the Old Master and European Drawings dealer Stephen Ongpin. He advises clients and museums on their collections, buys and sells on their behalf and can provide insurance valuations. Guy Peppiatt Fine Art exhibit at a number of London fairs and are also part of Master Drawings New York every January. Guy also vets a number of art fairs and is Chairman of the Vetting Committee for the Works on Paper Fair.
2 BRITISH DRAWINGS AND WATERCOLOURS 2016
Monday to Friday 10am to 6pm Weekends and evenings by appointment
Guy Peppiatt Fine Art Ltd Riverwide House, 6 Mason’s Yard Duke Street, St James’s, London SW1Y 6BU
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7930 3839 Mobile: +44 (0) 7956 968284 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7839 1504 [email protected] www.peppiattfineart.co.uk 3 1 Paul Sandby, R.A. (1730-1809) The Eagle Tower, Caernarvon Castle, North Wales
Pen and grey ink and watercolour over pencil on laid paper Stylistically this watercolour dates from the 1770s and this has been confirmed by Professor Luke 36.3 by 51.6 cm., 14 ½ by 20 ½ in. Herrmann. Sandby visited Wales three times in the early 1770s. His first visit was in the summer of 1770 when he was invited to stay at the family seat of Sir Watkin Williams Wynn at Wynnstay, Denbighshire, Provenance: about four miles east of Llangollen, and he returned for six weeks the following summer. In 1771 he went With Walker Galleries, London, by 1955; on an extended tour of the estate at Wynnstay and produced drawings, some of which were engraved as By descent from 1955 until 2015 part of Views in North Wales published in 1776. He also toured Wales with Joseph Banks from 25th June to 16th August 1773. Exhibited: Possibly London, Royal Academy, 1775, no. 275 A slightly smaller view of Caernarvon Castle by Sandby dated 1773, taken from across the river Seiont is in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.
4 2 Thomas Robins the Elder (1715-1770) Sudeley Castle and St Mary’s Church, Gloucestershire showing the effects of the Cromwellian Demolition of 1649 first half of the fifteenth century. He built the gateway, Portmare and Garderobe Gouache over traces of pencil Towers, the church and the great barn. Edward IV gave the castle to his brother 27 by 37.4 cm., 10 ¾ by 14 ¾ in. Richard and it was later the home of Katherine Parr, the last and surviving wife of Henry VIII. During the Civil War, Sudeley was a base for Charles I’s nephew Prince Provenance: Rupert, and, because of this, the Council of State in April 1649 ordered that the castle Henry Rogers Broughton, 2nd Baron Fairhaven (1900-1973) be ‘slighted’ or rendered unusable for military purposes. Accordingly, in August and September 1649, Sudeley was effectively demolished, roofs were removed and the This view is taken from the east looking over Sudeley Castle with the village of buildings exposed to the elements. Much of the effects of the Cromwellian demolition Winchcombe beyond. The earliest part of the castle was built by Ralph Boteler in the can still be seen in Robins’s view of more than a century later. Architectural fragments
5 strew the ground, and the tall windows of the ruined Banqueting Hall (never in fact 3 rebuilt) can clearly be seen in the centre of the composition. On the right, St Mary’s Thomas Gainsborough, R.A. (1727-1788) Church is obviously roofless and in ruins. During the nineteenth century, some parts of the Castle were rebuilt for the Dent family, who had purchased it in 1837, and, Open Landscape with Figures on Horseback and Packhorse thanks largely to George Gilbert Scott’s work from 1854, Sudeley now presents a very different appearance from that recorded by Thomas Robins in the eighteenth Black, sepia and white chalk and grey washes on buff paper century. In addition to the rebuilding of the outer Court and the western side of the 25.9 by 32.9 cm., 10 ¼ by 13 in. Inner Court, St. Mary’s Church and Katherine Parr’s elaborate tomb were magnificently restored by Scott between 1858 and 1863. Provenance: With Colnaghi and Obach, London 1916; Thomas Robins was born at Charlton Kings near Cheltenham, only six miles as the With F.R. Meatyard, London, 1939; crow flies from Sudeley Castle. Little is known of his early life but he was in Bath by Wayland Williams; 1760 where he established his reputation as a topographical artist producing views of With Leger Galleries, London, 1988 the city and local grand houses. He returned to his home county drawing at least two panoramic views of the city of Cheltenham in 1748. One is in Cheltenham Art Gallery Literature: and another was sold at Christie’s on 5th June 2007, lot 32 for a hammer price of John Hayes, The Drawings of Thomas Gainsborough, London, 1970, no. 692 £26,000 (see John Harris, Gardens of Delight – The Rococo English Landscape of Thomas Robins the Elder, 1978, p.20, pls. 35 and 37). A view of Sandywell Park a few Exhibited: miles south of Sudeley, dated 30th September 1758 is in an album of drawings by London, F.R. Meatyard, Catalogue no. 19, 1939, no.44, reproduced Robins in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Works by Robins are rare – two views by him of Honington Hall were sold at Christie’s on 14th July 1987, lots 135 and 136 Landscape drawings account for over three-quarters of Gainsborough’s output as a for £45,000 and £26,000 respectively. draughtsman, and make up some of his finest works. These drawings were done for his own pleasure, in varying degrees of finish, and using a range of different techniques. Robins’s importance is as one of the earliest topographical artists working on paper William Jackson, a friend of the artist and early biographer, noted that ‘If I were to rest (or vellum), recording gardens and country houses from 1747 until the late 1760s his reputation upon one point; it should be on his Drawings.... No man ever when few others were doing so. His works are often drawn within a framework of possessed methods so various in producing effects, and all excellent.’ painted intertwining rococo flowers. John Harris describes him as ‘an artist who painted English houses and garden when they were most enchanting; whose eye This drawing dates from the early 1780s and is one of his most delicate drawings captured the rococo garden at its perfection and when it was most whimsical; whose drawn with great economy. John Hayes (op. cit.) compares it to a similar drawing in paintings are almost sensual in the sheer delight they give; such was Thomas Robins the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Hayes no.691) and a drawing of sheep and cows the Elder’ (op. cit. above, p.1). in the City Art Gallery, Bristol (Hayes no. 683). We are grateful to Hugh Belsey for his comments on this drawing.
6 7 4 Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827) Madame Cigali the Famous Female Fencer from Rome at Henry Angelo’s Fencing Academy
Pen and grey ink and watercolour Henry Charles William Angelo (1756-1835) was a close friend of Rowlandson for 14.4 by 23.8 cm., 5 ¾ by 9 ½ in. over fifty years and the artist depicted his Fencing Academy on a number of occasions. Angelo inherited the Academy from his father, the famous Italian swordsman Rowlandson was evidently intrigued by the idea of a man and woman fencing as he Domenico Angelo in 1785. They were located over the entrance to the pit door of drew at least five such studies. One in the Dent collection depicted Henry Angelo and the Opera House, Haymarket but were destroyed by fire on 17th June 1789 when ‘Madame Cain’. ‘Madame Culloni and Mons. Renault’ in Paris is recorded in the Dent Angelo moved the Academy to no.13 Bond St. It became more akin to a gentleman’s Collection with another version in the Yale Center for British Art. Another, of club and Charles James Fox, Sheridan and Byron were regular attendees. ‘Madame Kelu famous Fencer Native of Italy 1816’ was sold at Sotheby’s on 22nd March 1979, lot 57.
8 5 John Colley Nixon (1755-1818) A Feast of the Gods
Signed lower left: John C. Nixon fecit et Inven.t 1778 and inscribed with title on a Nixon was a wealthy London merchant and secretary of the Beefsteak Club. He was cartouche on the border an accomplished amateur artist and friend of Thomas Rowlandson (see nos. 4 and 6) Watercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour on laid paper and under his influence his later work is of high quality. He is best known for his small Whole sheet 31.3 by 44.2 cm., 12 ½ by 17 ½ in. scale caricatures of Georgian life. The current drawing is an unusually early work showing the interior of a tavern which he has entitled ‘A Feast of the Gods.’ He Provenance: exhibited thirty-nine works at the Royal Academy between 1781 and 1815 and his Anonymous sale, 12th July 1988, lot 58, bought by the present owner drawings are in many public collections.
9 6 Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827) The Pursuit
Signed lower right: T. Rowlandson 1790 Engraved: Pen and grey ink and watercolour on laid paper Etched by Thomas Rowlandson and published 1st March 1791 as ‘The Pursuit’ 32.4 by 46.5 cm., 13 by 18 ½ in. Sixty-three drawings and watercolours by Rowlandson from the collection of Sidney Phipson were exhibited at Provenance: the Anderson Galleries, New York in 1923. This watercolour was published as a pair to ‘The Attack’ which Sidney Lovell Phipson (1851-1929) depicted a lady and gentleman in a coach being accosted by a highwayman (for a full description, see Joseph Grego, Rowlandson the Caricaturist, 1880, p.289). A copy of this engraving is in the Royal Collection (RCIN 810410).
1 0 Highwaymen exerted a macabre fascination on the British public in the eighteenth century. They were viewed with a combination of excitement and dread and some became heroes. Rowlandson returned to the subject on a number of occasions with a version of the subject dating from circa 1790 shows the highwayman in the same poise, turning and firing at his pursuers as he jumps a gate. On the hill beyond is a shadowy gibbet, a reminder of the likely fate of a captured highwayman.
7 Francis Wheatley (1747-1801) Itinerant Potters
Signed lower left: F. Wheatley delt/1799. Watercolour over traces of pencil
Provenance: Arthur N. Gilbey (1861-1939), Folly Farm, Sulhampstead, Berkshire, his Executor’s sale, Christie’s, 26th April 1940, lot 214, bt. Fletcher for 55 guineas
Born the son of a tailor in Covent Garden, Wheatley studied painting at Shipley’s School and at the Royal Academy Schools from 1769. Redgrave’s Dictionary recalls ‘In early life he made many theatrical acquaintances, and was led into extravagance and debt.’ To avoid his debtors he fled to Dublin with the wife of the watercolour painter John Alexander Gresse where he achieved success as a portrait painter. On his return to London, he specialised in genre paintings in oil and watercolour, many of which were engraved. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1791 and his series ‘Cries of London’ was popular as engravings in the late 1790s.
A print after Wheatley called ‘Itinerant Potters’ was published as a stipple engraving in 1797. Arthur Gilbey, who owned this watercolour, was the second son of Sir Walter Gilbey and a well known collector of angling books and pictures. His sale at Christie’s included 36 works by Francis Wheatley. 1 1 8 Francis Nicholson (1753-1844) Cayton Mill near Scarborough, Yorkshire
Signed and inscribed on the original mount: F. Nicholson 1793 and inscribed by the Provenance: artist on the back of the original mount: F. Nicholson Knaresborough Yorkshire/or at No Mr Carr, a Merchant, Leeds; 58 Cornhill London and further: Miss Erskine with Mr Carr’s Compts/Leeds 29 October Given by him to Miss Erskine, 1793; 1793 With Agnew’s 2004; Pen and black and ink and watercolour over pencil Private Collection, UK, until 2011 23.5 by 32.8 cm., 9 ¼ by 13 in
1 2 Exhibited: Ryedale Folk Museum, Hutton-le-Hole, Francis Nicholson, March-May 2012
Cayton is a village on the coast four miles south of Scarborough. The mill at Cayton was still recorded in the 1850s but has long since disappeared.
Nicholson was born in Pickering, Yorkshire and lived in various Yorkshire towns before moving to London in 1803. He painted mainly views of Yorkshire and Scotland and, later in life, London. He built up such a successful career as a drawing master in London that he stopped exhibiting from 1833. Nicholson was one of the founding members of the Old Watercolour Society.
9 Francis Nicholson (1753-1844) Pistyll Rhaeadr, North Wales
Watercolour over traces of pencil heightened with touches of bodycolour and stopping out 39.1 by 29.3 cm., 15 ½ by 11 ¾ in.
Provenance: With Michael Bryan
Nicholson appears to have visited Wales for the first time in about 1799 on a sketching tour with his twelve year old son Alfred and his patron and probable pupil, Sir Thomas Gage (1781-1820). North Wales had become more accessible in the late eighteenth century with the improvement of the turnpikes. The waterfall of Pistyll Rhaeadr became a great attraction for both tourists and artists at the time and was known as one of ‘the seven wonders of North Wales.’ Nicholson here exaggerates the size of the waterfall to create a memorably Romantic image. 1 3 10 William Payne (1760-1830) A Castle on a Hill by a ruined Bridge, the Sea beyond
Watercolour over traces of pencil This late work, probably dating from 1810-20, is in wonderful condition and has 21.1 by 29.6 cm., 8 ½ by 11 ¾ in. never previously been framed, originating from a folio of works by Payne at Blair Castle. The lack of pen and ink and the strong colouring indicates a late work and it Provenance: is almost certain to be a capriccio view based on the landscape of Devon which the Blair Castle, Blair Atholl, Scotland artist knew so well.
1 4 11 Julius Caesar Ibbetson (1759-1817) View from under the bridge at Llangollen, Wales
Inscribed on part of old mount: From under the Bridge...... Llangollen This watercolour originates from Ibbetson’s 1792 summer tour of North Wales in Pen and grey ink and watercolour over traces of pencil the company of Robert Fulke Greville (1751-1824) and his fellow artist John ‘Warwick’ 32.7 by 45.1 cm., 12 ¾ by 17 ¾ in. Smith (1749-1831) He was in Llangollen in July and there are a number of recorded Llangollen views. Another version of this watercolour is in the National Library of This is a view looking east along the river Dee from under the sixteenth century Wales and an oil is in Glasgow Museum (see James Mitchell, Julius Caesar Ibbetson, bridge. To the right is the tower of the church of St Collen’s. Llangollen is named 1999, p.92, ill.). For more on his Welsh trip, see Mary Rotha Clay, Julius Caesar after St Collen who founded the original church on this spot in the sixth century. Ibbetson, 1948, p. 32-43. The wooden tower was replaced by the current stone one, using stone from the original church, in 1749. We are grateful to James Mitchell for his help in cataloguing this watercolour.
1 5 12 Robert Cleveley (1747-1809) The Embarkation of Caroline of Brunswick on board the Jupiter at Cuxhaven 1795
Signed verso and inscribed: The Embarkation of Her Royal Highness the Princess of to Cuxhaven. When they reached Gravesend, the Princess transferred to the royal Wales on board the Jupiter at Cux haven yacht Augusta and sailed up the Thames arriving at Greenwich as planned at noon on Pen and grey ink and watercolour Easter Sunday, 5th April. 11.9 by 18.4 cm., 4 ¾ by 7 ¼ in. Robert Cleveley was the son of John Cleveley (1712-1786), a shipwright and painter This shows Caroline of Brunswick, the future Princess of Wales and wife of George from Deptford. He was a clerk and purser in the Navy and first exhibited in 1767. He IV, leaving Cuxhaven at the mouth of the river Elbe in Northern Germany on 28th was appointed Marine Draughtsman to the Duke of Clarence and Marine Painter to March 1795 on her way to England to marry George, the Prince of Wales. They had the Prince of Wales. intended to depart from Holland but French troops blocked their way so they diverted
1 6 13 Samuel Atkins (fl. 1787-1808) Boats off Shakespeare’s Cliff, Dover
Signed lower right: Atkins Exhibited: Pen and grey ink and watercolour with pen and black ink border on laid paper London, Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1929, no. 7 35.1 by 49.1 cm., 13 ¾ by 19 ¼ in. Atkins specialised in marine pictures but little else is known about his life. He exhibited Provenance: at the Royal Academy between 1787 and 1808 and was at sea visiting the East Indies Victor Rienaecker (1887-1957); and the coast of China from 1796 to 1804. Examples of his work are in the British With Thos. Agnew & Sons, London, early 1970s Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford and elsewhere. Another version of this watercolour is in the Tate Gallery (T00964).
1 7 14 Cornelius Varley (1781-1873) A Thames Craft
Signed lower left: Thames Craft C. Varley Brown washes over pencil 30.9 by 21.9 cm., 12 by 8 ½ in.
Provenance: With Thos. Agnew & Sons, London, no. 27183
Engraved: Lithographed by W. Boosey for Varley’s Drawing Book of Boats, 1847
This is one of the seven drawings lithographed for Varley’s Drawing Book of Boats, published in 1847: ‘They are chiefly drawn by his Graphic Telescope which securing both truth of form & perspective render them admirably adapted for the studies of Youth, & from their implicit fidelity to Nature may suit the Portfolio of the Artist as a work of reference.’ For images of the lithographs, see Cornelius Varley – The Art of Observation, Lowell Libson, exhibition catalogue 2005, no.88, pp.154-157.
1 8 15 Samuel Prout (1783-1852) Boats on the Beach at Hastings
Watercolour over traces of pencil heightened with bodycolour on buff paper Prout lived in Hastings from 1837 to 1844 for health reasons but stylistically 24 by 33.1 cm., 9 ½ by 13 ¼ in. this drawing appears to be earlier. His first documented visit to the town is in August1815 but he may have been there earlier. As there is no natural harbour at Provenance: Hastings, fishing boats have always had to be pulled up onto the beach. A similar By descent to Samuel Gillespie Prout (1822-1911) (authenticated by him on old label); watercolour study of fishing boats on the beach at Hastings is in the Tate Gallery Mrs Brimacombe of Brighton; (T1010). Bequeathed to Mrs Brent Palchair, Brighton 1939; Given to Mrs Hazelton, Brighton, 1974; Private Collection until 2015
1 9 16 John White Abbott (1763-1851) Wooded Landscape at Peamore, Devon
Inscribed verso: Peamore Sep. 8. 1815. Pen and grey ink and washes 37.9 by 27 cm., 15 by 10 ¾ in.
Peamore Park was a popular sketching ground for both White Abbott and Francis Towne. The Rev. John Swete in his ‘Picturesque Sketches of Devon’ recording his tour of 1789 wrote: ‘The chief beauty of Peamore lies in the undulating form of its grounds, rising and falling in the regular alternation of hills and dales – in its woods, groves and trees – and in a Quarry, which surrounded by a thicket of high towering Oaks, beech & ash is one of the grandest and most romantic objects in the county.’ Peamore lies about five miles south of Exeter and visitors and artists were allowed in its ground. From 1774 until 1795 it was in possession of the Coxe family until the death of Henry Hippisley Coxe when it was sold to Samuel Kekewich whose descendants remained there until 1947.
2 0 17 John Sell Cotman (1782-1842) The Abbey Church of Montivilliers near Havre de Grace, Normandy, France
Signed lower left: J.S. Cotman 1817 Pencil 23.3 by 36.1 cm., 9 ¼ by 14 ¼ in.
Provenance: With the Fine Art Society, London, August 1945; Mark Hanan, his sale, Bethune & Co, Wellington, New Zealand, 2nd September 1964, lot 193; Ernest George Frederick Vogtherr, Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand (1898-1973)
Engraved: As an etching for ‘Architectural Antiquities of Normandy’, 1822, facing page 97
This dates from the first of Cotman’s three trips to Normandy, in the summer of 1817. He arrived on the boat from England at Dieppe on 20th June and spent seven weeks travelling round Normandy visiting historical sites for a proposed book of engravings.
After several days in Dieppe, Cotman continued down the coast to Fécamp where he found the cathedral disappointing and then on to Le Havre via Montivilliers, four miles north of Le Havre. He was in Montivilliers on 27th and 28th June. The Abbey of Notre Dame at Montivilliers originally dates from 684 but was destroyed by Vikings in 850 and rebuilt in both the Romanesque and Gothic styles. A number of similar pencil drawings of Normandy churches are in the Castle Museum, Norwich (see Miklos Rajnai, John Sell Cotman – Drawings of Normandy in Norwich Castle Museum, 1975, nos. 11, 19, 29 and 38). For more on Cotman’s tour of Normandy, see Timothy Wilcox, Cotman in Normandy, 2012.
2 1 18 Thomas Shotter Boys (1803-1874) Coast Scene, Trouville, Normandy
Signed lower right: TS Boys. 1830. and signed on label attached verso: No 1./Coast This and no. 19 were the first oils ever exhibited by Boys, at the Society of British scene. Trouville, Normandy./T Boys. 4 Greek Street. Artists in 1830, and are the only recorded oils from his Paris period. The only other Oil on board exhibited painting by him from the 1830s, ‘Greenwich from the Observatory Hill’, 20.3 by 26.1 cm., 8 by 10 ¼ in. exhibited at the Society of British Artists in 1838, was sold at Christie’s on 17th July 1992, lot 29 for £28,000 (hammer). Exhibited: London, Suffolk Street, Society of British Artists, 1830, no. 413 The subject matter of a grouping of children on a beach is typical of Bonington and
2 2 19 Thomas Shotter Boys (1803-1874) Coast Scene, Le Havre, Normandy shows the influence he exerted on Boys at this period – ‘Picardy Coast with Children Signed lower left: TS Boys/1830 and signed on label attached verso: No – Sunset’ dated to circa 1825 and now in a private collection, was engraved by J.D. 2./Coast scene. Havre./Thos Boys, 44 Greek Street. Harding in 1830, the date of these oils (see Patrick Noon, Richard Parkes Bonington Oil on board – the complete Paintings, 2008, no. 184, pp.224-5, ill.). Other related works by 20.3 by 25.3 cm., 8 by 10 in. Bonington are ‘A Picardy Coast Scene with Children – Sunrise’, dated 1826, and now in the Royal Collection (Noon, op.cit., no.204, pp.254-5, ill.) and ‘On the Cote Exhibited: d’Opale, Picardy’ dated to circa 1827 and belonging to the Duke of Bedford London, Suffolk Street, Society of British Artists, 1830, no. 390 (Noon, op.cit., no.206, pp.258-9). See note to no.18.
2 3 20 Thomas Shotter Boys (1803-1874) A Horse and Cart on a Country Road
Watercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour and stopping out A Horse and Cart on a country road was a popular motif for Bonington and Boys 10.3 by by 19.1 cm.,4 by 7 ½ in. is known to have copied a similar work by him (see Patrick Noon, Richard Parkes Bonington – the Complete Paintings, 2008, no. 121, ill.). Bonington had moved to This early work by Boys dates stylistically from the early 1830s and shows the strong France with his family in 1817 and was in Paris by 1820. He quickly established himself influence that Richard Parkes Bonington (1802-1828) exerted on him at this period. as an artist and his first exhibits at the Salon in 1824 were met with great acclaim.
2 4 21 Thomas Shotter Boys (1803-1874) The Grote Kerk, Dordrecht
Signed lower right: T Boys/1830 This is one of the earliest recorded Dutch views by Boys. It shows the Grote Kerk or Watercolour heightened with bodycolour and scratching out and stopping out Church of Our Lady, the largest church in the city, on the banks of the river Meuse. 16.1 by 21.3 cm., 6 ½ by 8 ½ in. We know that he witnessed the Belgian Revolution in Brussels in the summer of 1830 (see James Roundell, Thomas Shotter Boys, 1974, p.76) so it is likely that he continued Provenance: north to Dordrecht via Antwerp afterwards. A watercolour of the Church of St With the Fine Art Society, London, August 1946 Charles Borrome, Antwerp, dated 1832, was sold at Sotheby’s on 26th November 1998, lot 76 for £15,000 (hammer price). Another version of this watercolour is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
2 5 22 Francois Louis Thomas Francia (1772-1839) The Calais Fishing Fleet setting sail: Grey Morning
Signed on pier: L. Francia Exhibited: Watercolour over traces of pencil heightened with bodycolour London, Anthony Reed, 3 Cork St., Louis Francia and his son Alexandre, 1st to 23rd 11.7 by 1.7 cm., 4 ¾ by 7 ½ in. October 1985, no.43
Provenance: Born in Calais, Francia moved to London in 1790 and soon afterwards was employed With Anthony Reed, Cork St., London, 1985; as a teaching assistant at J.C. Barrow’s drawing academy. By 1795, he was exhibiting Bought by the present owner at Abbott and Holder, London, 2004 at the Royal Academy and in 1805 he set up as a drawing master in Kensington. In 1817, having failed to gain election as an Associate of the Royal Academy the previous Literature: year, he returned to Calais as Secretary to the British Consul there, where he Anthony Reed, Louis Francia and his son Alexandre, 1985, no.43, ill. p.79; remained for the rest of his life. At the end of 1817, Bonington moved to Calais with Gerald Bauer, The Eloquence of Watercolour – the Genius of Bonington’s his family and soon encountered Francia who gave him lessons. Anthony Reed (op. Contemporaries, 2003, ill. no.39 cit.) dates the present watercolour to circa 1830.
2 6 23 Charles Bentley (1806-1854) Fishermen picking up a Buoy in stormy Weather off Folkestone, Kent
Watercolour heightened with bodycolour, scratching out and gum arabic scenes of the mid 1820s. Bentley was apprenticed to the engraver Theodore Fielding 15.2 by 22 cm., 6 by 8 ¾ in. (1781-1851) until 1827. Fielding produced places for Bonington’s work which Bentley would have had access to. Bentley specialised in marine scenes, often with extensive use of scratching out. This watercolour which dates from the 1830s shows the influence of Bonington’s marine
2 7 24 William Callow, R.W.S. (1812-1908) The Harbour, Marseille, France
Signed with initials lower left and inscribed lower right: Marseille Juil 28 to bed till 8 A.M. Visited the quays and made a number of sketches of merchantmen Watercolour over pencil heightened with touches of bodycolour on grey-blue paper coming into harbour’ (see William Callow – an Autobiography, 1908, p. 55). 13.4 by 23.2 cm., 5 ¼ by 9 in. Two other watercolours of Marseille, also dated 28th July 1836, were sold at Provenance: Sotheby’s on 24th November 2005, lots 159 and 160 and a large watercolour With the Fine Art Society, London, 1972 ‘Entrance to the Port of Marseilles’, which was exhibited at the Society of Painters in Water-colours in 1838, sold at Christie’s on 2nd December 2014, lot 194 for This dates from Callow’s tour of the south of France in the summer of 1836. His diary £23,000 hammer price. entry for 28th July is as follows: ‘My twenty-fourth birthday. On arrival at Marseilles went
2 8 25 William Callow, R.W.S. (1812-1908) Trees at Madeley Manor, Staffordshire
Inscribed l..r.: Madeley Manor Sep. 7. ‘42 Callow recalls in his autobiography: Black chalk and pencil ‘During the next year, 1842, my pupils increased in number… Miss Crewe, a sister of 25.7 by 36.2 cm., 10 by 14 ¼ in. Lord Crewe, was also a pupil, and I went to give her some lessons at Madeley Manor, in Staffordshire, the seat of Mrs. Cunliffe Offley, the aunt of Miss Crewe, with whom Provenance: she was staying. I unfortunately caught a severe cold on the last day of my visit through Anonymous sale, Sotheby’s, 12th January 1966, lot 2, one of a folio; sitting on the damp grass, so I decided to go to the South Coast to recuperate’ Private Collection until 2014 (William Callow – an Autobiography, edited by H.M. Cundall, 1908, pp.87-88).
A view of Madeley by Callow was sold at Sotheby’s on 19th November 1992, lot 110 and another was with Leger Galleries in 1987.
2 9 26 William Callow, R.W.S. (1812-1908) View of Winchester from the North
Signed lower centre: Wm Callow Portsmouth, and walked to Winchester, making a large number of sketches on the way, Watercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour and finally took the coach to London. This tour proved to be a very pleasant one, and 28.8 by 45.6 cm., 11 ½ by 18 in. in this manner I was enabled to make sketches of many interesting places unfrequented by travellers’ (see William Callow – an Autobiography, 1908, p. 29). Provenance: With Vicar Brothers, 12 Old Bond St., London, 1947 This is a view of Winchester from the banks of the river Itchen to the north of the city. Winchester Cathedral is in the centre with Winchester Palace on the hill to the right. This studio work may be based on sketches drawn in the summer of 1835. Callow left The Palace was later converted into military barracks. Callow only exhibited three Paris in May 1835 and walked from Rouen along the Seine to Le Havre before taking Winchester views – stylistically this is likely to be the picture exhibited at the Society the steamer to Southampton. ‘After touring on foot round the Isle of Wight we went to of Painters in Water-colours in 1856 as ‘Winchester.’
3 0 27 William Callow, R.W.S. (1812-1908) The Falls of the Rhine at Schaffhausen, Germany
Signed and dated 1863 lower left and inscribed verso: No 8/Falls of the Rhine/at to Lake Wallenstadt. From Ragatz he took a coach to Rorschak on Lake Schaffhausen Constance then a steamer to the town of Constance. ‘On the following day posted Watercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour and stopping out to Schaffhausen and saw the Falls of the Rhine. Then quitted with great regret the 56.6 by 84.6 cm., 22 ½ by 33 ½ in. mountain scenery of Switzerland and posted to Freiburg, where I took the coach to Strasbourg’ (see William Callow – an Autobiography, 1908, p. 69-70). John Murray’s Exhibited: popular guidebook to the Alps described the falls as follows: ‘[From a balcony over London, Society of Painters in Water-colours, Summer 1863 the fall], covered with the spray, the traveller may enjoy the full grandeur of this hell of waters; and it only by this close proximity, amidst the tremendous roar and the The Falls at Schaffhausen are the largest waterfall in Europe, located in northern uninterrupted rush of the river…. that a true notion can be formed of the stupendous Switzerland near the town of the same name. They are 75 feet high and 450 feet nature of the cataract’ (John Murray, Hand-Book for Travellers in Switzerland and the wide. Callow visited them at least once, in the autumn of 1838 on his first tour of Alps of Savoy of Piedmont, 1846, p.21). Switzerland. From Zurich he took a steamer to Rappenschwyl then went by coach
3 1 28 David Roberts, R.A. (1796-1864) Cologne Cathedral, Germany
Signed lower left, inscribed lower right: Cologne July 29th/1830 and further indistinctly inscribed upper right Watercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour on buff paper 24.1 by 36.2 cm., 9 ½ by 14 ½ in.
Provenance: By descent in the Warde-Norbury Family until 2015
Roberts’ only sketching tour to Germany was in the summer of 1830 when he journeyed down the Rhine, although he did pass through the country on his way to and from Venice in 1851. He went up the Rhine as far as Heidelberg which he particularly enjoyed. While he was in Cologne he heard news of the Three Days’ Revolution in Paris so hastened home instead of on to Strasbourg as he had intended (see Katharine Sim, David Roberts R.A., 1984, p.50). Watercolours of the Tomb of the Three Kings in Cologne Cathedral are in the Harris Museum, Preston and the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester.
The construction of Cologne Cathedral started in 1248 and was halted in 1473, leaving it unfinished. Work restarted in 1842 and was completed, to the original plan, in 1880.
3 2 29 David Roberts, R.A. (1796-1864) Oberwesel on the Rhine, Germany
Signed lower right: D. Roberts/1831 Engraved: Watercolour heightened with bodycolour, scratching out and gum arabic By E. Goodall as a steel engraving, 1831 21.2 by 31.1 cm., 8 ½ by 12 ¼ in. Roberts visited Oberwesel on his trip down the Rhine in the summer of 1830 (see note to Provenance: no.28). Oberwesel is a town on the Middle Rhine about 25 miles south of Koblenz. The tower With Thos. Agnew & Sons, London (no.2380); in the foreground, the Ochsenturm or ‘Ox’s Tower’ has an octagonal top tower and is part of With Walker’s Galleries, London the town walls originally built in the early thirteenth century with sixteen defensive towers. On the hill beyond is the Schönburg, a castle originally built in the twelfth century.
3 3 30 Alfred Gomersal Vickers (1810-1837) The Admiralty Square, St Petersburg, Russia
Watercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour ‘This is an immense oblong space in the very heart of the city. The spectators stands 24.4 by 37.3 cm., 9 ¾ by 14 ¾ in. near the manege, the building which projects at the left-hand corner. Beyond that is the Admiralty, with its gilded spire, which is visible from almost all parts of the Engraved: metropolis. Further on is the Winter Palace, distinguished by a flag, in front of which, By E. Radcliffe for A Journey to St Petersburg and Moscow through Courland and Livonia near the bottom of the vista, is the column raised to the memory of Alexander. by Leitch Ritchie, 1836, opp. p.68 Opposite this, on the right hand, is the palace of the Etat Major, and returning towards the foreground, the War Office. The group in front are employed in dragging stones Vickers was sent to Russia by the publisher Charles Heath in 1833 to produce for the new Isaak’s church, which stands on the left hand corner, although the view illustrations for Leitch Ritchie’s book. Ritchie describes the Admiralty Square as follows: is not wide enough to admit it.’
3 4 31 Alfred Gomersal Vickers (1810-1837) The Hermitage Bridge, St Petersburg, Russia
Watercolour heightened with bodycolour and gum arabic wished to retire to as much solitude as an Empress surrounded by a brilliant court 23.2 by 36.2 cm., 9 ¼ by 14 ½ in. could desire, is connected with the Winter Palace by a covered gallery. It is now chiefly remarkable as being the repository of a museum of paintings…’ (see Leitch Ritchie, A This watercolour was not engraved by Heath for Ritchie’s book but he describes the Journey to St Petersburg and Moscow through Courland and Livonia, 1836, p.129). The Hermitage as follows: ‘The Hermitage, the favourite haunt of Catherine II, when she Hermitage Bridge which connects two part of the Hermitage Palace was built in 1763-66.
3 5 32 Alfred Gomersal Vickers (1810-1837) The Convent of the Ascension and the Holy Gate, Moscow, Russia
Inscribed lower right: Moscow and in the sky: Convent of Ascension/Holy Gate of palaces and cathedrals….. On entering the gate the scene is splendid beyond Pencil description. On the left the view is open. A part of the esplanade is railed in for the 25 by 40.4 cm., 10 by 16 in. exercise of the troops, and beyond them, at a great depth, you see the thousand domes of the city. On your right stands the convent of the nuns of the Ascension Provenance: adjoining the new palace, and in front are tall tower of Ivan Velikoi, and a numerous With the Albany Gallery group of other buildings surmounted by gilded domes and cupolas. The convent contains two churches, one of which is modern, and forms a nameless jumble of the This is presumably an on-the-spot sketch dating from Vickers’ visit to Russia in 1833. Grecian and Gothic. The establishment was founded in 1389…..’ (see Leitch Ritchie, It does not relate directly to a plate in Heath’s publication but Ritchie describes the A Journey to St Petersburg and Moscow through Courland and Livonia, 1836, p.201-2). view: ‘….the Spaskoi, or Holy Gate, conducts us direct into the middle of the group
3 6 33 Joseph Mallord William Turner, R.A. (1775-1851) The Westminster and Claudine ashore at Margate, Kent (recto); Study of the Westminster or the Claudine (verso)
Pencil and white chalk on blue paper Laurence W. Hodson, Compton Hall, near Wolverhampton by 1884; 13.9 by 19.2 cm., 5 ½ by 7 ½ in. Thence by descent until 1978; Anonymous sale, Sotheby’s, 30th November 1978, lot 97, part of an album, bt. Feigen; Provenance: Richard L. Feigen, New York until 2015 Sophia Booth (1798-1875), Margate; By descent to her son John Pound until 1865; See note to no. 34.
3 7 34 Joseph Mallord William Turner, R.A. (1775-1851) Kingsgate Castle, Broadstairs, Kent (recto); The Westminster and Claudine ashore at Margate, Kent (verso)
Inscribed verso: Claudine and Westminster These sketchbook pages of coastal subjects and beach scenes executed on blue Pencil and white chalk on blue paper paper are notoriously difficult to date but the subject matter of these two drawings 14.1 by 19.4 cm., 5 ½ by 7 ½ in. has recently been identified and it is now possible to date them to 1840. The recto of this sheet shows Turner looking northwest across Kingsgate Bay showing Kingsgate Provenance: Castle in the foreground with the folly known as Arx Ruochim in the distance. The Sophia Booth (1798-1875), Margate; verso which is inscribed ‘Claudine and Westminster’ depicts an incident which Turner By descent to her son John Pound until 1865; witnessed at Margate in November 1840. On 22nd November 1840, two East Laurence W. Hodson, Compton Hall, near Wolverhampton by 1884; Indiamen were deliberately grounded on the sands to the east of Margate to prevent Thence by descent until 1978; them losing their cargo in a storm. Their cargo was then unloaded on the shore and Anonymous sale, Sotheby’s, 30th November 1978, lot 97, part of an album, bt. Feigen; damage to the ships was repaired. Richard L. Feigen, New York until 2015
3 8 recto Turner first visited Margate as an eleven year old when sent to stay with relatives there by his parents. However from the 1830s onwards, he visited Margate rather more regularly due to his liaison with Sophia Booth (1798- 1875). Mrs Booth was Turner’s landlady at Margate whose lodgings overlooked the jetty, conveniently where steamers coming from London arrived. Her second husband John Booth died in 1833 and their connection began shortly afterwards and continued until Turner’s death in 1851. More than twenty years his junior, Turner appears to have viewed her as some sort of muse. From the late 1840s, they lived together on Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, effectively as man and wife. This drawing and no. 33 belonged to Mrs Booth who passed them on to her eldest son John Pound.
We are grateful to Ian Warrell for his help in identifying the subject of these drawings.
verso 3 9 35 David Cox (1783-1859) The Fishseller on the Banks of the Thames
Watercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour This rare early work by Cox in exceptional condition dates to circa 1810-11. Another 21.7 by 31.8 cm., 8 ½ by 12 ½ in. version, with differences, was with Andrew Wyld in 2006 (see exhibition catalogue, June 2006, no.24). ). The interest in the depiction of architecture, and the awkward figures, are typical of Cox’s early or ‘first style’ as it is known.
4 0 36 David Cox (1783-1859) The Salmon Trap
Signed lower left: David Cox Literature: Watercolour over traces of pencil heightened with stopping out and gum arabic N. Neil Solly, Memoir of the Life of David Cox, 1873, p. 280-1; 52.3 by 74.9 cm., 20 ¾ by 29 ½ in. Whitworth Wallis and Arthur Bensley Chamberlain, Catalogue of a Special Collection of Works by David Cox, 1890, no. 214, p.39 Provenance: Sir John Pender (1816-1896) by 1872, his sale, Christie’s 29th May 1897, lot 208, bt. Exhibited: Agnew’s for 190 guineas; London International Exhibition, 1872; With the Graves Gallery, Birmingham; City of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Works by David Cox, 1890, no. 214 James Gresham, his sale, Christie’s, 12th July 1917, lot 10, bt. Bowden for 60 guineas; Anon sale, Christie’s, 8th November 1946, lot 58; This dramatic late work by Cox has been in a private collection since 1946. Cox By descent until 2015 visited Bettws in 1844 and returned there every summer until 1856. The village stands at the junction of three rivers, the Conway, Lledr and the Llugwy and the scenery in the surrounding area is especially dramatic.
4 1 37 David Cox (1783-1859) Distant View of Lancaster
Indistinctly inscribed upper left: Lancaster….. This is a view of Lancaster Castle on its hill above the town, in a commanding position overlooking With a drawing of the site of Dudley Castle verso the River Lune. The tower to the left is Lancaster Priory, founded in 1094. In the distance beyond Watercolour heightened with bodycolour and stopping out the town is the Forest of Bowland, also known as the Bowland Fells. Amongst this high moorland, 16.0 by 25.3 cm., 6 ¼ by 10 in. the scarp slope of Clougha Pike is visible on the far left, with Grit Fell, a lone hill in the centre.
Provenance: Cox visited Lancaster Sands on Morecambe Bay in north-west England in the summers of 1834, Anonymous sale, Christie’s, 11th November 1997, lot 74; 1835 and 1840, fascinated by the vast skies and ever changing weather. The sands were, and still With Spink, London, 1999; are, famously dangerous and travellers were frequently cut off by the fast moving tides. Stylistically Private Collection, UK this watercolour dates from the mid to late 1830s.
4 2 38 David Cox (1783-1859) Drovers in the Scottish Highlands
Signed on rock lower left: D. Cox/1828 Provenance: Watercolour over pencil heightened with touches of bodycolour and scratching out on Private Collection UK wove paper watermarked: ..DS 1825 18.4 by 25.9 cm., 7 ¼ by 10 in. This may have been exhibited at the Society of Painters in Water-colours in 1828, no. 325 as ‘Scottish Drovers.’
4 3 39 Peter de Wint (1784-1849) Warwick Castle from the River Avon
Watercolour over traces of pencil This is the classic view of Warwick Castle taken from the Avon shows Caesar’s Tower in the centre 30.1 by 46.5cm., 12 by 18 ½ in. of the image with the Old Bridge below. This watercolour may be preparatory to an engraving o Warwick Castle after de Wint published for Radclyffe’s ‘Graphic Illustrations of Warwickshire’ 1823- Provenance: 26 which has the same viewpoint. Stylistically this relates closely to a study of trees at Lowther which The Artist’s studio sale, 22nd May 1850, lot 89, bt. Palmer for £1.4.0 probably dates from his first visit to the Lake District in 1824. Two sepia studies of Warwick Castle by de Wint are in Birmingham City Art Gallery with a watercolour in the British Museum.
4 4 40 Peter de Wint 1784-1849) A Woman on a Donkey returning from Market
Indistinctly inscribed verso Watercolour over traces of pencil 30.5 by 25.6 cm., 10 ¼ by 12 ¼ in.
Provenance: Anonymous sale, Sotheby’s, 10th October 1974, lot 78; Anonymous sale, Sotheby’s, 30th June 2005, lot 262, sold for £7,200 (hammer) 4 5 41 Peter de Wint (1784-1849) A Farm Cottage, Methley, Yorkshire
Brown washes over pencil Exhibited: 25 by 38 cm., 9 ¾ by 15 in. London, Manning Gallery, Early English Watercolours, 20th February to 10th March 1967 Provenance: With the Manning Gallery, 1967; A larger, coloured version of this watercolour was sold at Christie’s on 15th Matthew Pryor (1917-2005), his sale, Sotheby’s, 4th July 2002, lot 324, bt. by the November 1983, lot 246. Methley is now part of the city of Leeds, south-east present owner of the centre.
4 6 42 Joseph Mallord William Turner, R.A. (1775-1851) The Ahr Valley: Altenahr and Burg Are with the Schwarzes Kreuz, Germany
Inscribed lower left: Valley Aara Neuenahr-Ahrweiler into the Rhine. Turner explored many of the Rhine’s tributaries Pencil particularly in the 1840s. 17.8 by 22.8 cm., 7 by 9 in. This on-the-spot sketch is one of a group of drawings of views in the Ahr valley which Provenance: date from one of the Turner’s last major European tours in the early 1840s. Andrew With Thos. Agnew & Sons; Wilton has dated them to 1844 but Peter Bower has recently discovered that they Private Collection originate from the same sketchbook as Turner’s group of Burg Eltz drawings (including nos.1333-35 in Andrew Wilton, Turner, 1979) which are traditionally dated to circa This drawing shows Altenahr and Burg Are with the Schwarzes Kreuz on the right and 1841-42. A number of the Ahr sketches are in the Turner Bequest (TB CCCXL1V the wooden bridge over the river Ahr in the centre foreground. The town of Altenahr 39r and v, 43r and v, 44v, 45r, 46r, 97r and v, 98r and v and 99-106). is to the left beneath the ruins of the 12th century castle of Burg Are. The river Ahr is a left tributary of the Rhine and flows through the towns of Schuld, Altenahr and Bad We are grateful to Cecilia Powell for her help in cataloguing this drawing.
4 7 43 Sir Edwin Henry Landseer, R.A. (1802-1873) A Pony carrying a dead Stag, a Ghillie and dog beyond
Pencil greatest works. He would stay with a succession of aristocratic families including the 17.1 by 23.1 cm., 6 ¾ by 9 ¼ in. Duke of Atholl at Blair Atholl, the Marquess of Breadalbane, and the Duke and Duchess of Bedford at their hunting lodge near Aviemore as well as Walter Scott Provenance: at Abbotsford. The Artist’s studio sale, Christie’s, 8th to 15th May 1874, lot 857, one of two; Manning Gallery, London Deer-stalking became a regular subject for Landseer despite his ambivalence to their killing. He wrote to Lord Ellesmere in 9th September 1837: ‘There is something in This study belongs to a group of similar drawings relating to Landseer’s oil the toil and trouble, the wild weather and savage scenery that makes butchers of us `Highlanders Returning from Deerstalking’. The painting was exhibited at the Royal all. Who does not glory in the death of a fine stag? on the spot—when in truth he Academy in 1827 where it was bought by the 4th Duke of Northumberland and it is ought to be ashamed of the assassination.’ still at Alnwick Castle. It was the first of a succession of Highland scenes exhibited by Landseer in the late 1820s and 1830s. His first visit to the Highlands was in the For two other studies (now in a private collection), see Sotheby’s sale, 6th July 2010, autumn of 1824 and it had a profound effect on his life and his art. He returned year lot 237. after year in the summer and autumn months and Scotland inspired many of his
4 8 44 William James Müller (1812-1845) The Theatre of Xanthus, Lycia
Signed lower left: Theatre of Xanthus WM.1843 This dates from the most important sketching tour of Müller’s career, in Lycia in Watercolour over pencil, with collector’s mark lower right modern day Turkey in the winter of 1843-44. He left England with his pupil Harry 37.4 by 55.7 cm., 14 ¾ by 21 ¾ in. John Johnson (1826-1884) on 12th September 1843 and after stopping for supplies at Smyrna met up with the archaeologist Sir Charles Fellowes, who had organised the Provenance: expedition, at the mouth of the river Xanthus. On 1st November they walked the six Thomas George Baring, 1st Earl of Northbrook (1826-1904); miles to Xanthus, the ancient capital of Lycia and they remained in the area for three S. Rowland Pierce, his Executors’s sale in these Rooms, 17th October 1968, lot 113, months. Müller worked constantly, despite the bad weather, and developed a looser bt. Langham; more confident style and worked on a larger scale than he had before. Dr Theodore Besterman, his sale, Christie’s, 14th December 1971, lot 74, bt. Agnew; This is a view of the remains of the Lycian city of Xanthus. In the foreground is a A Deceased Estate sale, Sotheby’s, 25th November 2004, lot 194, bt. by the present typical Lycian house tomb where the stone has been hewn to imitate wooden roof owner beams. The Roman amphitheatre is behind and probably dates from the 2nd century AD. It is relatively intact, with only the upper rows of the auditorium missing, having Exhibited: been used as construction material for later buildings. On the far right is the top of the Brighton Art Gallery, 1962, no.69 Pillar tomb, an unusual funeral monument in Lycia, as it is actually two tombs in one and it is likely to date from the 4th or 3rd centuries B.C.
4 9 45 George Fennel Robson (1788-1833) Derwentwater, Borrowdale, Lodore Falls on the Left
Watercolour heightened with bodycolour, scratching out and stopping out Robson’s first Lake District exhibits were two views of Windermere at the Society 33 by 49.2 cm., 13 by 19 ½ in. of Painters in Water-colours in 1816. However the present watercolour is likely to be one of the seven views of Derwentwater he exhibited there between 1826 Provenance: and 1833. B.N. Williams; With Thos. Agnew & Sons (DB2378)
5 0 46 Anthony Vandyke Copley Fielding (1787-1855) Vessels on the Shore at Southampton
Signed lower right: Copley Fielding and signed verso: Vefsels on the Shore at Exhibited: Southampton Copley Fielding/1833 London, Society of Painters in Water-colours, 1833, no.321, bought J.L. Brown Watercolour heightened with bodycolour, gum arabic and scratching out 25.7 by 36.3 cm., 10 ¼ by 14 ½ in. This watercolour was bought at the Old Watercolour Society by John Lewis Brown (d.1836), a Bordeaux wine merchant and an important collector of Bonington’s work. Provenance: Four auctions of his collection took place between 1835 and 1843. John Lewis Brown (d.1836); With Leger Galleries, London, 1954
5 1 47 George Arthur Fripp, R.W.S. (1813-1896) View on Loch Torridon under Ben Shieldaig, Scotland
Signed lower left: George A. Fripp and signed on old label attached to the backboard: Exhibited: No 4/On the West Coast/of Scotland./George Fripp London, Society of Painters in Water-colours, 1877, no. 20 as ‘On the West Coast of Watercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour Scotland’ 36.3 by 51.2 cm., 14 ½ by 20 ¼ in. This watercolour is accompanied by a letter written by the artist to the buyer of the Provenance: picture in 1877: ‘Dear Sir/I made the drawing which you purchased at the summer Mrs J. Fripp, her sale, Christie’s, 12th November 1963, lot 217 (one of five) Exhibition in a bay on Loch Torridon, under Ben Shieldaig. The little ruined Tower I added to the scene that was from another Loch in Argyllshire. I trust the drawing continues to give you pleasure/I remain dear Sir/faithfully yours/George Fripp’
5 2 48 Thomas Leeson Rowbotham Junior (1823-1875) A Storm over Moorland
Signed lower right: TL Rowbotham/1859 His father Thomas Leeson Rowbotham (1782-1853) was a well-known Bristol artist Watercolour heightened with bodycolour on buff paper who taught his son to draw at an early age. He made his first sketching tour, to Wales, 22.7 by 35.5 cm., 9 by 14 in. in 1847 and he exhibited at the New Watercolour Society from 1848. He succeeded his father as drawing master at the Royal Naval School, Greenwich. His later works are mainly Italian Lake views.
5 3 EDWARD LEAR IN ROME 1837-1848 nos. 49-56 49 Edward Lear (1812-1888) Lear arrived in Rome on his first major overseas tour in December 1837 and he The Campagna di Roma remained there for the next ten years apart from two brief visits to England. He travelled widely, mainly in the south of Italy. These eight drawings originate from the Signed lower right and inscribed lower left: Campagna di Roma/Feby 17. 1844 collection of John Scandrett Harford (1787-1866) who met Lear in Rome in 1846 and Watercolour heightened with touches of white on grey paper remained in his family until 2015. They are three on-the-spot sketches dating from 4.2 by 8.9 cm., 1 ½ by 3 ½ in. 1843-44 and five sketches relating to his engravings for ‘Excursions in Italy’ published in 1846. Unusually for such sketches, they are all signed and are in almost perfect Provenance: condition having never been previously mounted or framed. John Scandrett Harford (1787-1866); By descent until 2015 John Scandrett Harford was a banker, collector and writer from Bristol and also a talented amateur artist. A watercolour by him ‘Rome from the Vatican’ was sold at The Roman Campagna is a generic term for the low-lying area surrounding the city of Sotheby’s on 6th July 2010, lot 265 for over £10,000. He made a tour of Italy from Rome. It was a popular with artists in the 18th and 19th centuries for its atmospheric 1815 to 1817 where he bought a good number of Old Master paintings and he Roman ruins. The remains of a Roman acqueduct are visible in the distance and the returned to Rome in 1846 where he met Lear. Harford’s nephew John Battersby conical structure to the right is a shepherd’s hut. Harford had travelled round Southern Italy with Lear in 1844 (see Annals of the Harford Family, edited by Alice Harford, 1909, p.122) and would no doubt have provided an introduction for the two men.
Lear’s style evolved considerably while he was in Italy from his early black and white chalk drawings influenced by James Duffield Harding to the confident watercolours for which he is best known. The three watercolours included here (nos. 49-51) are 50 among his earliest landscape watercolours. Edward Lear (1812-1888) The Tor San Giovanni or Torre Salaria near Rome
Signed lower right and inscribed lower left: Tor S. Giovanni/Feby. 1844 Pen and brown ink and watercolour heightened with touches of white on grey laid paper 7.9 by 11.9 cm., 3 by 4 ½ in.
Provenance: John Scandrett Harford (1787-1866); By descent until 2015
This is view of the Tor san Giovanni, also known as the Torre Salaria, which is located north of the old city of Rome on the Via Salaria, where the Aniene joins the River Tiber. This medieval watch-tower was built on top of an ancient Roman tomb carved out of tufa known as Sepolcro di Mario, after Marius, the leader of a faction in the First Roman Civil War. Once a landmark on the empty Roman landscape, the tower, which still stands, has been enveloped by the spread of modern Rome.
5 4 5 5 51 Edward Lear (1812-1888) The Farmhouse of Buon Ricovero near Rome
Signed lower right and inscribed lower left: Buon Ricovero/Novbr 29. 1843. Watercolour heightened with touches of white on grey paper 8.1 by 13.7 cm., 3 by 5 ¼ in.
Provenance: John Scandrett Harford (1787-1866); By descent until 2015
Buon Ricovero is the name of a large farmhouse to the right of the Via Cassia, about seven miles from the centre of Rome, not far from La Giustiniana.
5 6 52 Edward Lear (1812-1888) Antrodoco
Signed lower left: E Lear del. 1846 and inscribed with title lower right All the triple-armed valley of Antrodoco is full of grand scenery; but it is so threatened Black chalk heightened with white on blue paper and walled-in by lofty mountains, as to be, to my feeling, oppressive in character. The 12.5 by 17.8 cm., 4 ¾ by 7 in. town itself has a very Swiss look….. It contains no object of interest, and is sufficiently gloomy….. its castle, now a ruin, frowns in decay, from a huge rock immediately Provenance: above the clustered dwellings.’ (op.cit., p.51). John Scandrett Harford (1787-1866); By descent until 2015
Lear visited Antrodoco on 5th and 6th August 1843. A view of Antrodoco was engraved for Illustrated Excursions in Italy, 1846, pl.14.
5 7 53 Edward Lear (1812-1888) Trasacco
Signed lower left: E. Lear del. 1844. and inscribed with title lower right Trasacco sits on the south side of Lake Fucino. Lear records: ‘Trasacco, the Transaqua Black chalk and pencil heightened with white on buff paper, with corners cut of old, now a small town of seven hundred and fifty inhabitants, seems to have no 13.5 by 21.7 cm., 5 ¼ by 8 ½ in. claim to antiquity of origin, beyond its having been built on the site of a palace of Claudius…… But what pleased me most at Trasacco was a view near a curious but Provenance: picturesque old tower, square at its base, and round at top, over-looking all the wide John Scandrett Harford (1787-1866); Lake, with the distant Velino beyond.’ By descent until 2015 The engraving differs slights from this drawing with shepherd and sheep on the rock in Engraved: the lower right corner. By J. Whimper for Edward Lear’s Illustrated Excursions in Italy, 1846, pl.6, facing p.22
5 8 54 Edward Lear (1812-1888) Pizzoferrato
Signed lower right: E. Lear del. 1844. and inscribed with title lower left Lear visited Pizzoferrato on 22nd and 23rd September 1843: Black chalk and pencil heightened with white on buff paper, with corners cut ‘Towards noon, a long and bare ascent, brought us to Pizzo-ferrato, (in the province 13.6 by 26.2 cm., 5 ¼ by 10 ¼ in. of Chieti, or Abruzzo Citeriore,) when we were glad to take shelter during a violent storm of hail and thunder. It is a most romantic village, at the foot of an isolated rock Provenance: crowned by a convent; nothing can be wilder or less interesting than the treeless John Scandrett Harford (1787-1866); country immediately around this place, nor more superb than the endless view over By descent until 2015 ridges of purple hills crowned by little towns, forming as it were, a continuous plain down to the shores of the Adriatic.’ (op. cit., p.99). Engraved: By J. Whimper for Edward Lear’s Illustrated Excursions in Italy, 1846, pl.26, facing p.98
5 9 55 Edward Lear (1812-1888) The Church of Santa Maria at Luco
Signed lower right: E. Lear del. 1844. and inscribed lower left: Santa Maria di Luco Engraved: Black chalk and pencil heightened with white on buff paper, with corners cut For Edward Lear’s Illustrated Excursions in Italy, 1846, pl.5 9.1 by 19.6 cm., 3 ½ by 7 ¾ in. ‘The Church Santa Maria, built on part of these ancient walls, is also of great antiquity; Provenance: having been given to the Benedictines by Doda, Contessa de’ Marsi in 930. The John Scandrett Harford (1787-1866); Lucus or Grove of Ancizia or Augitiae, from which the modern town derives his By descent until 2015 name, I looked for in vain… …. we were well pleased with the beautiful view of the Lake, and group of Alba and Velino, now diminished by distance, yet forming a fine back-ground to the picturesque church and walls.’ (op. cit., p.21).
6 0 56 Edward Lear (1812-1888) The Abbey of Santo Spirito at Sulmona
Signed lower right: E. Lear del. 1844. and inscribed lower left: Abbadai di S. Spirito The Abbey of Santo Spirito stands about five kilometres outside the town of Sulmona Black chalk, pencil and stump heightened with white on buff paper, with corners cut at the base of Monte Morrone. The present monastery was built in the early 18th 8.6 by 15.1 cm., 3 ¼ by 5 ¾ in. century after an earthquake all but destroyed the original 13th century building.
Provenance: ‘Below the solitary hermitage is the Monastery of S. Spirito, founded by Pope John Scandrett Harford (1787-1866); Celestino V, but now used as a poor-house for the three Abruzzi. It is a picturesque By descent until 2015 edifice, some distance from the high-road; and its tall Campanile is seen all over the Pianura of Solmona’ (op.cit., p.30-31). Engraved: By J. Whimper for Edward Lear’s Illustrated Excursions in Italy, 1846, vignette no.9, p.30
6 1 57 Edward Lear (1812-1888) Near Ghatish, Egypt
Inscribed lower left: near (?) Ghatish/5-5.30. AM. March 28. 1867, numbered 22 This drawing was once part of an album of 340 sketches mostly of Egypt by Lear, lower right and extensively inscribed with colour notes drawn between January and July 1867, which the American collector Donald Gallup Pen and brown ink and watercolour over pencil bought from the London dealers F.R. Meatyard in the winter of 1943-44. Gallup gifted 17.3 by 25 cm., 7 by 10 in. most of his collection to the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, but occasionally he would give works, such as the present watercolour, to friends and colleagues (for Provenance: more on Gallup and Lear, see Donald C. Gallup, Collecting Edward Lear, Yale Sir Franklin Lushington (1823-1901); University Gazette, April 1987, pp.125-142). By descent until 1929; Craddock and Barnard, Tunbridge Wells; This dates from Lear’s third and last trip to Egypt in December 1866 to March 1867. F.R. Meatyard, Museum St, London, bought by Donald Gallup as part of an album, He was back in Cairo in mid March and on the 22nd they set off across the desert on circa 1943; camels with a dragoman called Abdul. The mushroom tent shown in the present Donald Gallup (1913-2000); drawing is also in a number of Gallup drawings at Yale (see Scott Wilcox, Edward Lear A gift to a friend; and the Art of Travel, 2000, nos. 120-123). No.121 in the above catalogue was drawn By descent until 2015 at 4.30 pm on 28th March (the date of the present drawing) and numbered 23.
6 2 58 Edward Lear (1812-1888) The Tomb at Tughlakabad, Delhi
Inscribed lower left: Toglickabad. Delhi/March 12 1874. not un-Egyptian in its leaning walls. The wind is cold, and I didn’t wait long, but came Pen and brown ink and watercolour heightened with white on grey-blue paper to the fort, and have drawn there till 11 at two views, each very remarkable…. The 11.5 by 22.4 cm., 4 3/4 by 9 in. fort is simply a vast mass of ruin, such as I have already seen many; but the city walls are in many parts perfect…. On the west side all is green corn, at times water, for the Provenance: Jumna is close by, and old Tughlak’s tomb stand finely off the great plain’ (Edward Lear’s With Spink-Leger, London Indian Journal, edited by Ray Murphy, 1953, p.99).
Lear was invited to India by his friend George Baring, Lord Northbrook (1826-1904) Tughlakabad or Tughlaqabad Fort stretches for four miles to the south of the city of who had recently been appointed Viceroy of India. He arrived in Bombay on 22nd Delhi. It was built by Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq in 1321 but was abandoned in 1327. Most November 1873 and spent the next year travelling through India and Ceylon. He of the walls are in ruins but the tomb or Mausoleum of Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq which spent ten days in Delhi in March 1874 ‘making Delhineations of the Dehlicate Lear depicts in this drawing is well preserved. Most of Lear’s Indian drawings ended up architecture as is all impressed on my mind inDehlibly as the Dehliterious quality of with Lord Northbrook and were sold by his descendants in the late 1920s and early the water of that city’ (Later Letters of Edward Lear, 24th April 1874, edited by Lady 1930s. They were nearly all bought by Philip Hofer and W.B. Osgood Field who gave Strachey, 1911). His diary for 12th March records: ‘The walk to Tughlakabad is nearly them to the Houghton Library, Harvard University in 1942. A mainly pen and ink four miles over a perfectly uninteresting flat…. Stopped to sketch the tomb and fort, drawing of Tughlakabad drawn at 10 a.m. on 12th March is in the Houghton Library which have a certain grandeur…. Tughlak’s tomb is a massive small fort in itself, and (see Vivien Noakes, Edward Lear, exhibition catalogue 1985, no.34g, p.119, ill.).
6 3 59 Edward Lear (1812-1888) Mount Olympus from Larissa, Greece
Watercolour over traces of pencil are soon lost to sight – and it is only from some eminence – that anything like a 13.2 by 26.4 cm., 5 by 10 ¼ in. satisfactory drawing can be made – yet the very simplicity, the extreme exaggeration of the character of a plain is not without its facination; and the vast lines of Thessaly Provenance: have a wild and dream-like charm of poetry about them, of which it is impossible for Anonymous sale, Sotheby’s, 6th July 2010, lot 261; pen or pencil to give a fully adequate idea.’ (Journals of a landscape painter in Albania, Private Collection, USA pp. 416-417).
Lear visited Mount Olympus on his first visit to Greece in the spring of 1848. The finished nature of the present watercolour and the lack of pen and ink and his Travelling alone he went to Yannina and then over the Metsovo Pass to the Vale of customary notes suggests that this is a studio work. He drew this view a number of Tempe and Mount Olympus. He returned there in 1864 recording in his journals: times. A finished studio work in watercolour is in the Metropolitan Museum, New ‘Starting at about seven, we held a southward course; the plain was one unvaried York and an oil was sold at Christie’s New York on 25th January 2012, lot 57 for green undulation. Larissa, and even Olympus, except now and then its highest peaks, $104,500.
6 4 60 Albert Goodwin, R.W.S. (1845-1936) Sunrise over the Coral Reef, Barbados
Signed lower right: Albert Goodwin/1912 and inscribed with title lower centre Goodwin left the Isle of Wight for Barbados on 22nd January 1902 accompanied by Watercolour and bodycolour over pencil his daughter Edytha. He travelled aboard the W.I.M.S. Trent as a guest of his friend 24.7 by 34.6 cm., 9 ¾ by 13 ¾ in. Arthur McConnell and they arrived on 2nd February. Soon afterwards the Goodwins boarded the R.M.S. Eden and continued to St Vincent, Grenada and Trinidad. Provenance: Goodwin found the exotic colours and wildlife inspirational and he sketched Private Collection, UK ceaselessly. It was his first trip to the West Indies and he returned in 1912, the date of the present work.
6 5 INDEX
Atkins, S. 13 Müller, W.J. 44
Bentley, C. 23 Nicholson, F. 8-9 Boys, T.S. 18-21 Nixon, J.C. 5
Callow, W. 24-27 Payne, W. 10 Cleveley, R. 12 Prout, S. 15 Cotman, J.S. 17 Cox, D. 35-38 Roberts, D. 28-29 Robson, G.F. 45 De Wint, P. 39-41 Robins the Elder, T. 2 Rowbotham Junior, T.L. 48 Fielding, A.V.C. 46 Rowlandson, T. 4,6 Francia, F.L.T. 22 Fripp, G.A. 47 Sandby, P. 1
Gainsborough, T. 3 Turner, J.M.W. 33-34, 42 Goodwin, A. 60 Varley, C. 14 Ibbetson, J.C. 11 Vickers, A.G. 30-32
Landseer, Sir E.H. 43 Wheatley, F. 7 Lear, E. 49-59 White Abbott, J. 16
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