ABBOTT and HOLDER
31 st January - 8 th February
31 East 72 nd Street, New York
20 th February - 8 th March
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This is our second year participating in Master Drawings New York. We are very much looking forward to returning to Manhattan, to seeing long standing customers again and the many new ones we met for the first time last year. We hope you enjoy looking at (possibly even reading!) this catalogue. We feel it shows the range and diversity that should be celebrated in British drawings of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Nothing, of course, can replace seeing the works themselves. Despite the incredible technological advances of our times, it is reassuring that there is still no screen or camera that can fully capture the quality and presence of works of art, least of all works on paper. So, we encourage you to visit the exhibition in New York, or in London when it returns to the UK.
Those of you who are able to visit Master Drawings New York are also encouraged to attend some of the many events being organised by The Drawing Foundation. This not-for-profit exists to promote the study and enjoyment of drawing. It works mostly through collaborative initiatives and so serves a vital role in bringing together dealers, academics, curators and collectors.
Tom Edwards
1. JOHN WHITE ABBOTT 1763-1851
Scotland; ‘The City of Edinburgh from the Top of Arthur’s Seat’
Pen, ink and watercolour.
Signed, inscribed and dated, ‘No.7 / June 19. 1791’, verso.
Original wash-line mount.
3.75x6 inches. Framed: 11.5x14.5 inches.
This is one of the eighty numbered and beautifully mounted drawings Abbott made on his 1791 Summer tour of Yorkshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire, the Lake District and Scotland. Other examples from the Scottish leg of his journey are in the MET and the National Galleries of Scotland. There is also a drawing made from Arthur’s Seat, but looking over Leith towards Kirkcaldy, made on the same day as this in the V&A. These are some of Abbott’s earliest works and bear the strongest resemblance to the those of his teacher and friend, Francis Towne.
2. JOHN WHITE ABBOTT 1763-1851
Devon; ‘Torquay’
Pencil, pen, ink and watercolour. Inscribed and dated, ‘Torquay Aug 27’ verso.
Signed with initials, inscribed and dated, ‘August 27th 1800’ to the original mount.
Provenance: Christie’s, 9th November 1971, Lot 140.
5.5x8 inches. Framed: 12x14.5 inches.
Towne’s tour of 1791 (Cf. No.1) turned out to be one of his few painting trips of any length. The majority of his work was made in his native Devon or the surrounding counties of the South-West of England. This drawing has an exceptional quality of detail; in the ships and rigging of the middle distance, but also in its complex and sensitive depiction of light. It shows just how far Abbott had changed his style from the grand, generalised effects of Landscape that were popular in the 1790s and which he had learnt from Towne.
3. ROBERT ADAM F.R.S.A 1728-1792
Capriccio Landscape with a Castle Ruin
Pen, ink and watercolour. c.1780.
Provenance: The majority of Adam’s landscape drawings appeared in the dispersal of his collection at Christie’s, 20th May 1818 and 9th July 1821; [...] Kaye Dowland by 1862, his signature (L.691) and inscriptions verso. 6.5x10 inches Framed: 11.5x15 inches.
Adam’s landscape drawings of the 1770s and 1780s can be loosely categorised into ‘Classical’ subjects (of which there are fine examples in the Sir John Soane Museum) and ‘Gothic’ subjects (of which the best holding is at the National Galleries of Scotland). This drawing contains all the elements of the ‘Gothic’ type as described by A. A. Tait in his ‘The Picturesque Drawings of Robert Adam’, Master Drawings, 1971, Vol. 9, No.2 ... ‘Like the landscapes of Claude, Adam’s romantic drawings follow certain immutable laws [...] the castle, the river with waterfall or loch, the bridge, the causeway and path, and the towering mountains [...] the castle standing on a cliff, with water beneath, and a causeway bearing figures leading from the foreground to it [...]’.
4. WILLIAM ANDERSON 1757-1837
Shipping in a Breeze / Shipping in a Calm
Pencil and watercolour. c.1790. 9.25x13.5 inches (each). Framed: 15.25x19.25 inches (each).
Anderson, born in Scotland, was a shipwright before turning to painting. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from the 1780s, capitalising on the popularity of Marine painting during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. These watercolours follow a well-established formula of pairing two similar scenes in different weather conditions. The shipping is Dutch, and we are probably meant to be on the Zuiderzee.
SIR GEORGE BEAUMONT Bt. 1753-1827
David Garrick (1717-1779)
Pencil. 1778. On a piece of the wainscoting from the home of Joseph Farington R.A. (1747-1821) near Keswick. Inscribed to a label recto of the frame, ‘GARRICK sketch from memory by Sir George Beaumont Bt. / 1778’. Further inscribed to a label verso of the frame, ‘A most / remarkable liking / of Mr Garrick / drawn by / Sir George Beaumont Bart. / from memory / November / 1778 / at Keswick in Cumberland / & cut out of the wainscot / by Jos. Farington’.
3.5x2.5 inches Framed: 6x5 inches.
This remarkable survival brings together three great eighteenth-century characters; the actor and impresario David Garrick, the landscape painter Joseph Farington and the amateur artist and patron Sir George Beaumont. Farington evidently had this small section removed from the wainscoting of the house he owned near Keswick from 1775, presumably when he left the property in 1780. The drawing is mentioned twice in Farington’s famous diaries (see below) and from this we learn that ‘Cooke’ - probably the engraver Thomas Cooke (1744-1818) - had made a copy from the drawing. It is clear from Farington’s diary that both this original and Cooke’s copy were considered novel pieces of Garrickania from an early date.
27th June 1821
‘Hayes called and inspected my toe. I spoke to him abt. his having the copy he had in his possession made by Cooke from Sir George Beaumont’s sketch made of the late Mr. Garricks head on the wainscot of my parlour of Keswick, and I informed him that Sir George had lately seen the Copy among a large collection of “Garrickania” in the possession of Matthews, the Mimic Comedian. Hayes sd. when the Copy was made from my original he had no intention to part with it, but being taken by Mr. Adolphus, the Barrister, to see Matthews collection of Garrickania he was afterwards induced to give him the copy to add to his store.’
28th June 1821
‘I told Sir George what Hayes had sd. to me respecting the Copy of Garrick’s portrait being given by Hayes to Matthews. Sir George sd. he might think it a credit to him to have the sketch so estimated’.
6. ROBERT ANNING BELL 1863-1933
A Young Woman in Profile
Chalks. Signed and dated, 1899. Dedicated to the artist Henry (AKA Harry) Browne (1859-1917). 16x12 inches. Framed: 24x18 inches.
This beautiful drawing was made from life as a study for one of the artist’s compositions in oil, or perhaps one of his plaster reliefs. Anning Bell was of the last artists that can be considered part of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. His works were hugely influenced by early Italian art and these simple, linear profiles of women appear throughout.
7. THOMAS SHOTTER BOYS 1803-1874
Wales; Porthmadog, Looking up the High Street with Moel y Gest on the Left
Pencil and watercolour. c.1858/59.
Exhibited: Andrew Wyld, 2010. 8x6.25 inches. Framed: 11.5x.9.5 inches.
Boys made sketching tours of Wales and the Midlands in 1858 and 1859. Welsh subjects appears in his submissions to New Watercolour Society exhibitions of the late 1850s and early 1860s. In this watercolour, Boys contrasts the beautifully observed high street with mountains that dramatically rise up behind it. The work can be compared with Boys’ watercolour of ‘The Old Well Walk, Cheltenham’ in the Wilson Art Gallery, Cheltenham.
8. CARIBBEAN SUGAR PLANTATION
Watercolour. c.1800. Provenance: by descent to Ruth Heppel (1926-2023). 11.5x17.5 inches (each). Framed: 16.5 x 22 inches (each).
We have not been able to identify the hand that painted these watercolours. A number of views of Jamaican plantations were published by James Hakewill (1778-1843) in 1825, but this one does not appear amongst them for us to identfy the location. The works are much the same as views of Country estates that were commissioned in Britain at this date. The plantation buildings, layout and its setting within the countryside is recorded. Healthy slaves work the land and romance. Trees are heavy with bee hives. The plantation is clean and modern. A now entirely unconvincing evocation of an Idyll, one wonders how effective this impression was at the time.
9. STEPHEN CATTERSON SMITH P.R.H.A. 1806-1872
Three Sisters, the Youngest Making a Portrait of the Artist
Chalk, watercolour and white heightening on vellum.
Signed and dated, 1833. 10x11.25 inches. Framed: 16x19 inches.
This is a fine example of the chalk portrait drawings that made Catterson Smith’s name in the late 1820s and early 1830s. Many of these drawings, including a number of Royal commissions, were published as prints. Catterson Smith was born in Yorkshire but studied at the Royal Academy Schools in London and then in Paris. His early career was spent in London and in the South West, so this commission must have been completed in England. In 1840 he moved to Ireland, settling in Dublin and marrying the miniature painter Anne Wyke (d.1886). He was Portrait Painter to the Lord Lieutenant of Dublin for 30 years and twice served as President of the Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts.
10. HARRIET CHENEY
(Née CARR) 1771-1848
Portrait of a Woman in the Character of Pharoah’s Daughter finding Moses
Pencil and watercolour. c.1792-6. Inscribed by Princess Elizabeth, ‘Drawn by Mrs Cheney / given me by her / Elizabeth’ and ‘Studio / OHM 1796’ possibly in another hand. Provenance: the artist to Princess Elizabeth (1770-1840), daughter of George III. Exhibited: William Drummond, where listed as from an album compiled by Princess Elizabeth. 14.5x9 inches. Framed: 22x16.5 inches.
Harriet Carr was one of the most noteworthy female grand tourists of the late eighteenth century. She was in Italy from 1791-1794 and became something of a celebrity artist. Her watercolour portraits depicting society ladies in religious and mythological characters were enormously popular, her sitters including Lady Hamilton and Georgina, Duchess of Devonshire. This sheet is close to the works she made in Florence c.1792-94 so may have been made there and given to Princess Elizabeth when she returned. After the death of her husband in 1820, Harriet returned to Italy where she lived with her sons Robert Henry (1801-1866) and Edward (1803-1884) Cheney, both of whom were also talented amateur artists.
11. GIOVANNI BATTISTA CIPRIANI R.A. 1727-1785
A Sheet of Figure Studies
Pen, ink and wash. c.1780.
Exhibited: Colnaghi, Exhibition of English Drawings, Watercolours and Paintings, 1973, No.122. 7.5x11.25 inches. Framed: 12.5x16.5 inches.
Cipriani’s drawings and compositions became a prevalent part of eighteenth century visual culture via the prints his friend, Bartolozzi made of them. This sheet seems to combine studies for both religious (the studies of a beared figure) and mythological subjects. The style of drawing and dynamic, Michelangelesque poses can be related to Cipriani’s studies for his illustrations to Charles Dibdin’s, The Mirror, or Harlequin Everywhere (1779) in the British Museum. Indeed, the figures on the left may be Sisyphus shown in two different poses.
12. JOHN SELL COTMAN 1782-1842
Wales; Cader Idris from the Mawddach Estuary near Barmouth
Watercolour. c.1830-32.
6.75x10.5 inches. Framed: 14.5x18.5 inches.
This is one of the landscapes made in the 1830s that Kitson thought were ‘the true successors of his [Cotman’s] earlier watercolours’. Compositionally these works certainly rely on earlier ones - in this case those made on Cotman’s Welsh tours of 1800 and 1802. But the watercolours of the 1830s are works of poetry rather than topography and their aim is first and foremost to induce feeling in the viewer. Cotman’s inclusion of flour paste in his watercolour at this date gives extra richness to the pigments and allows us to see how he has used his brush and worked the washes on the sheet. Further examples of these works are in the British Museum, Leeds City Art Gallery and the Yale Center for British Art.
We are grateful to Timothy Wilcox for suggesting a date for this watercolour.
13. JOHN SELL COTMAN 1782-1842
Norfolk; Gillingham Hall
Pencil and monochrome wash.
Signed and dated, 1818.
Illustrated: Thomas Cromwell, Excursions in the County of Norfolk, Longman 1818, Vol.1, p.76 (engraved by T. Webb). Provenance: Christie’s, November 1977, Lot 67. 6x11 inches. Framed: 13x17 inches.
This is one of the seventy-seven drawings Longman commissioned from Cotman to illustrate their Excursions in the County of Norfolk, one of the series of guidebooks they intended to cover each county in the country. David Hill regards these Excursion drawings as ‘some of the most sparing and economically beautiful drawings of Cotman’s career. In many ways they represent the aesthetic peak of his early career.’
14. JOHN SELL COTMAN 1782-1842
East End of the Abbey Church of Saint Georges de Bocherville near Rouen, Normandy
Pencil. c.1818. Made with a camera lucida or Cornelius Varley’s Patent Graphic Telescope
Provenance: Dr John Sell Cotman (great-great grandson of the artist); his widow, Dorothy Cotman; Sotheby’s 12 July 1967 (lot 190?); […]; Michael and Megan Dawson. 14x9.5 inches. Framed: 18.5x15 inches.
Cotman made drawings of St Georges de Boscherville in 1817 and on a return trip in 1818. They became the basis for seven plates in his Architectural Antiquities of Normandy (1819-1822). This drawing was made with an optical device as an intermediary between an initial sketch and the finished drawing from which his etching was made. The finished drawing is now in the Yale Center for British Art. When he left for France in June 1817 Cotman was given one of Cornelius Varley’s Patent Graphic Telescopes so it seems likely that was the device Cotman used.
We are grateful to Timothy Wilcox for his help cataloguing this drawing.
15. DAVID COX O.W.S. 1783-1859
Crossing a Windswept Moor
Chalk and watercolour. Inscribed ‘13’.
Exhibited: Andrew Wyld, Summer 2010, No.34. 8x12 inches. Framed: 12x15 inches.
This drawing of the 1840s demonstrates Cox’s genius as a draughtsman. He gracefully transforms rapid marks of chalk and wash into effects of the weather; the middle ground darkens under fast moving clouds, damp wind blows across the moor and buffets the caravan of travellers, sun light breaks through the sky near the hills on the horizon. In his 2010 catalogue, Andrew Wyld speculated that this drawing may have been made in Wales, in the Vale of Clwyd. Certainly, this rugged landscape is a long way from those of the South East of England. How well Cox’s work catered to the taste for romantic and emotive landscapes, without the need for standing on that cold moor yourself...
16. ALEXANDER COZENS 1717-1786
Composition with a Castle and Classical Ruins on a River
Pencil, pen, ink and monochrome wash. The sheet varnished by the artist. c.1765. 14.25x21.5 inches. Framed: 20.5x27.5 inches.
The impressive scale, complex composition and high level of finish of this work make it a rarity. We see Cozens pulling together a number of elements that might each be examples of his smaller works (Cf. No.17, opposite). This is, in essence, a complete essay in landscape composition. Perhaps it is one of the large-scale works Cozens is known to have exhibited, or perhaps it was made for a private collector - a pupil or subscriber to his writings - to hang on their wall. Other examples of large-scale works can be found in the Tate and the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester.
17. ALEXANDER COZENS 1717-1786
A Lake at the Foot of a Crag
Pencil, brush, ink and monochrome wash. c.1780. Signed to the original wash-line mount. Exhibited: Andrew Wyld, Winter Exhibition, 2011, No.10. 4x5 inches. Framed: 6x7 inches.
This is one of Cozens’ blots as described in his New Method. Loosely applied and partly accidental washes were laid down before being fashioned into landscape compositions. Cozens used these drawings to demonstrate different ‘types’ of landscape compositions. This one relates most closely to Plate 12 in his New Method, ‘A flat bounded on all sides by groups of objects.’ This is exactly the sort of study in landscape that Cozens was admired for and that would have informed the large scale piece opposite (Cf. No.16).
18. PETER DE WINT 1784-1849
Haymakers at Rest on the Lincolnshire Wolds
Watercolour. c.1840.
Exhibited: Charles Nugent, 2015. 11x19 inches. Framed: 18.5x26 inches.
De Wint is synonymous with Lincolnshire. In 1810 he married Harriet Hilton, sister of the Lincoln painter William Hilton R.A. (1786-1839), and regularly visited the city. Much of his work is of the surrounding countryside. This is just the sort of scene that he would have witnessed from the Bluestone Heath Road. De Wint paints with great freedom, loading his brush heavily with water and pigment. Here he captures the great expanse of land and sky high up on the Wolds with broad strokes. In the middle distance a group of haymakers break from their work, the seated, hunched figures captured in lively conversation with only the most economical of touches from his brush. There is a larger version of this composition in Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. An earlier oil painting of harvesters in the Usher Gallery demonstrates the long lasting influence these scenes had on his work.
19. Attributed to JOSHUA CRISTALL O.W.S. 1767-1847
Figure Composition, possibly Adam and Eve Mourning the Death of Abel
Oil on paper laid on canvas. c.1805.
Provenance: Francis Haskell (1928-2000).
7.5x9.65 inches. Framed: 8x10 inches.
This work closely relates to a group of small oils by Cristall in the Victoria Art Gallery, Bath. The treatment of the figures, background and foliage all stylistically match the Bath works, and the pose of the female figure reappears almost exactly in one. The whole tenor of the work is also in key with Cristall’s paintings in both oils and watercolour. Cristall was at the Royal Academy Schools where he was taught and influenced by Barry and he was an early member of the Sketching Society. He was one of the few watercolourists of his generation who could successfully work in oils and combine well drawn, complex figure groupings within a landscape setting. This painting may show Adam and Eve Mourning the Death of Abel, but Cristall’s early compositions are almost all classical subjects. This and the (semi)nudity of the figures makes us suspect that this might be a Classical subject too.
Please contact the gallery for further information regarding this work.
20.
NATHANIEL DANCE-HOLLAND
R.A. 1735-1811
The Antiquarian
Pen, ink and watercolour. c.1800.
Signed and inscribed, ‘Sir N. Dance Knight Fecit _ J.E. / poor Copy from a drawing by Geo. Dance Esq.’. 7x8.5 inches. Framed: 16.5x19 inches.
Nathaniel and his brother, George Dance were both keen caricaturists. Even after Nathaniel gave up his London studio in 1782 and retired to the country he carried on making caricature drawings as a gentlemanly pursuit. Most of the Dances’ caricatures and satirical drawings are cryptic and impossible to decipher. This one is clearly a caricatural portrait of someone that the brothers knew well, possibly with the initials ‘J.E.’. They must have been close and the drawing amusing enough to them for Nathaniel to have made this copy from his brother’s original.
21. NATHANIEL DANCE-HOLLAND R.A. 1735-1811
Portrait of an Officer
Pencil. c.1767.
12.5 inches (Circular). Framed: 15.5 inches (Circular).
Dance was greatly influenced by Batoni while he was in Italy (1755-1765) and on his return established himself as one of the finest portrait painters of the day. His many works in oil are contrasted with wonderful pencil drawings such as this. More intimate in nature and showing his sitters at ease, they are relatively large in size and were clearly made as finished works to be hung, rather like a pastel portrait. See, for example, the drawing of Dance’s sister, Hester Smith (1769) in the Tate, London. We can date this work stylistically, and due to regulations governing some officer’s uniforms that began to introduced in 1767.
22. GEORGE DIXON 1731-1785
A Basket of Flowers
Pen, ink, watercolour and gouache.
Signed and dated, 1762.
14.5x20.5 inches. Framed: 21x26.5 inches.
George Dixon was a true enlightenment character. According to family history he was a chemist, mathematician, engraver, china-painter, engineer, geologist and coal mine operator. He even destroyed his own house during a gas experiment. His elder brother was the Jeremiah Dixon who helped survey the Mason-Dixon line in the United States. This beautiful and dramatic still life demonstrates his ability as a draughtsman and supports the notion that he spent some time as a china-painter.
23. ANTHONY VANDYKE COPLEY FIELDING 1787-1855
A South Downs landscape
Watercolour. c.1835.
Provenance: Edward Croft-Murray (1907-1980). 2x4 inches. Framed: 8x9.5 inches.
Fielding manages to fill a huge landscape into this miniature watercolour. Sussex and the South Downs were a regular subject for him, where, as here, he made good use of the effects of light passing over the hills. There were a number of windmills across the Downs at this date. This may show Duncton Mill that was later developed into one of the Claydon Mills, now known as ‘Jack and Jill’. Comparable compositions can be found in the Tate and the collection at Chatsworth.
Actual Size
24. JOHN GANTZ 1772-1853
Landscape in Southern India, probably near Madras
Watercolour. c.1820.
Indistinctly inscribed with the location and signed with monogram, verso. Exhibited: Elwes & Hanham, 1998. 6x9 inches. Framed: 14.5x17.5 inches.
Gantz was born in India and worked for the East India Company as a draughtsman and surveyor. He lived in Madras (Chennai) and his known works are almost all records of the local landscape and architecture. There are number of drawings by him of the temples and sculptures of nearby Mahabalipuram in the India Office Library and it is possible that this drawing is made there too - the inscription on the back of this sheet is indistinct and contemporary spelling of Indian place names is inconsistent. Gantz owned a lithographic press at Madras on which he worked with his son Justinian who was also an artist and miniaturist who moved to Burma as a Company draughtsman in the 1820s.
25. THOMAS GIRTIN 1775-1802
Rome; the Temple of Saturn after Charles-Louis Clérisseau (1721-1820)
Pencil, pen, brush and ink. 1797/98. Signed. Provenance: William Henry Millais (1828-99); Ernest Heinzer; Sotheby’s, 13th July 1995, Lot 25; Spink & Son Ltd, London; their sale, Christie’s South Kensington, 21st June 1998, Lot 109. Exhibited: Spink, London, 1996, No.15. Literature: Greg Smith, Thomas Girtin: The Art of Watercolour, Tate, 2002, Cat No. 27, p.47; Greg Smith, Thomas Girtin (1775-1802): An Online Catalogue, Archive and Introduction to the Artist, Cat no. TG0895. 5x7 inches. Framed: 11x13 inches.
This sketch was made from part of an etching entitled ‘Inside the Temple of Concord’ by Domenico Cunego (1727–1803) after a composition by Charles-Louis Clérisseau (1721–1820). Girtin was commissioned by his patron John Henderson (1764–1843) to make a full copy drawing of the print, which is now in the British Museum. This small study may have been made in preparation for this work at Henderson’s home, where he kept a large collection of prints. Girtin made another watercolour of this subject a few years later, now in a private collection.
We are grateful to Greg Smith from whose catalogue raisonné the information in this entry is taken.
26. JOHN GLOVER O.W.S. 1767-1849
Lake District; Ullswater from Patterdale
Watercolour. c.1820. Inscribed verso, ‘Ullswater Lake / Patterdale’. 10x15 inches. Framed: 17.5x22.5 inches.
Like many artists of his generation Glover was spellbound by the landscape of the Lake District. He visited regularly from the 1790s and in c.1818-20 bought Blawick Farm just north of Patterdale at Place Fell. This is a view from near his house looking over Ullswater towards Glenridding Dodd and Sheffield Pike with Helvellyn rising up at the left of the composition. Glover exhibited numerous views of the Lake District over his career, but this example, in the full glory of its original colour, is a particularly beautiful example. He had a deep love of the land here and after emigrating to Van Diemen Land, named his new Australian home ‘Patterdale’. There is a large composition by Glover of a similar view in oils in the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
27. HUGH DOUGLAS HAMILTON R.H.A. (1739-1808)
Portrait of a Woman in a Bonnet
Pastels. c.1780.
Literature: Neil Jeffares, ‘Dictionary of Pastelists’, J.375.216. 9.5x8 inches. Framed: 14x12.5 inches.
We do not know who the sitter is in this sympathetic portrait, but she is a fashionable young woman, wearing a bonnet extravagantly dressed in ribbons. The drawing is a typical example of Hamilton’s technique; a combination of softly used coloured pastels and sharp linear work made in black chalk or charcoal. His sparing use of colour here brings the work together into a gentle key and concentrates the viewer on the woman’s features, picked out with reds, and her eyes, just covered by the shadow cast by her bonnet.
28. JOHN SCANDRETT HARFORD F.R.S. 1785-1866
Rome; the Forum from the Capitoline
Pencil, pen, ink and watercolour. Drawn with an optical device. Signed, dated 1816, and inscribed ‘View of Rome from Tower of Capitol’ to the backing. 19.5x34.5 inches. Framed: 29x44 inches.
Although Harford was an amateur painter, he is considered a member of the Bristol School of artists. He was the first President of the Bristol Academy for the Promotion of Fine Arts, (now the RWA) in 1844, a great supporter of moral causes, and a generous benefactor with numerous charitable endeavours. He was also a friend of William Wilberforce (1759-1833), publishing his Recollections of W. Wilberforce in 1864. After the 1815 peace Harford was one of the wave of new grand tourists who travelled to the continent. True to his character, he combined painting and collecting artworks with lobbying Pope Pius VII for help in putting an end to the Spanish and Portuguese slave trades.
29. MARY HEADLAM 1873-1959
Kate Syrett (b.1872), Artist and Designer
Pen, brush, ink, watercolour and white heightening. c.1900.
Inscribed. Provenance: Artist’s Estate. 10x7.5 inches. Framed: 17.5x14.5 inches.
Mary Headlam trained at the Slade from 1892-1896, crossing over with both Gwen John (1876-1939) and Edna Clarke Hall (1879-1979). She was part of a circle of highly educated women artists and writers that included the Syrett sisters, one of which is depicted here. Much of Headlam’s work was made as a private occupation so she sold very little, and as a result, fell into obscurity. Her story has been re-told in our recent exhibition Mary Headlam: An Artist Rediscovered from which this drawing comes.
30. THOMAS HEARNE 1744-1817
The Vicar of Wakefield: Dr Primrose and his Family at Breakfast
Watercolour. c.1780.
Engraved with the title Vicar of Wakefield by William Woollet (figures) and William Ellis (landscape) and published by Ellis in 1780. Provenance: Agnews. 13x11 inches. Framed: 19x21 inches.
This watercolour depicts a scene from Vol II, Chapter 5 of Oliver Goldsmith’s Vicar of Wakefield. The family are breakfasting together in the garden when they see Squire Thornhill, the villain of the story, arriving in the distance. Thornhill has seduced Olivia, one of Dr Primrose’s daughters who stands centrally behind the table, under false pretences. An argument with Thornhill ensues and ends with him threating the arrest of Primrose for unpaid debts. The print made of this picture was published with the lines from the song Olivia sings at the start of the scene ... When Lovely woman stoops to folly, / And finds too late that men betray, / What Charm can soother her melancholy, / What art can wash her guilt away? / The only art her guilt can cover, / To hide her shame from every eye, / To give repentance to her lover, / And wring his bosom - is to die.
Bust of Hesiod
Pen, ink and monochrome wash. c.1727. Literature: Samuel Ireland, Graphic Illustrations of Hogarth, 1794, p.85; P. Oppé, The Drawings of William Hogarth, 1948, No.99 (Appendix of untraced works). Provenance: probably Samuel Ireland (1744-1800); his sale, Christies, 6/5/1797, lot 128 (to H. P. Standly); his sale, Christie’s 14/4/1845, lot 1050 (to Graves); […]; Capel Cure Sale, Sotheby’s 15/5/1905, lot 102 (to James Tregaskis 1850-1926); […]; Carl Robert Rudolf (1884-1974) (L.2811b), his stamp on the previous mount. 7x5 inches. Framed: 16.5x14 inches.
A drawing related to Hogarth’s engraved frontispiece to Thomas Cooke’s The Works of Hesiod (1728). In the 1960s another drawing came to light for which a claim was made that it was the untraced drawing of Hesiod by Hogarth (Christie’s, 28/4/1964, lot 81; Christie’s, 17/6/1975, lot 61; Christie’s, 15/11/1983, lot 121). But that sheet, of far inferior quality, is clearly a copy drawing and is so close to Ireland’s illustration of this subject in his Graphic Illustrations of Hogarth (1794) that it more likely relates to that project. The present drawing is on paper dateable to the time of Hogarth’s engraving and long before Ireland’s project. It is in reverse to Hogarth’s engraving and has the immediacy of an original design. It retains the tone and sensitivity present in the finished engraving, which is lost in both Ireland’s later etching and the drawing that came to light in the 1960s. This drawing can be compared stylistically to other Hogarth drawings such as the study of the ‘Tomb of Lord Shorland’ in the British Museum. The sculpture is a 2nd Century Roman copy of a Greek original that was in the Pembroke Collection at Wilton.
Please contact the gallery for further information regarding this drawing.
32. JAMES HOLWORTHY O.W.S. 1781-1842
An Artist Sketching at The Mill Gate (Porth-y-Felin), Conwy Castle, Wales
Pen, ink and wash. c.1803/4.
Inscribed recto, ‘Mill Gate, Conwy’. Verso: a landscape study, signed in pencil. 10x12.75 inches. Framed: 18x22 inches.
Holworthy exhibited views of Wales at the Royal Academy in 1803 and 1804. This early work would have been made on a trip around that time. Below the towering gateway, dramatically back-lit by the sun, Holworthy has included two figures, perhaps himself with a travelling companion, one sketching the castle. Behind the figures the River Conwy winds its course from Snowdonia towards the sea. Holworthy, a great friend of Turner, married Anne, the daughter of Wright of Derby, in 1821. He gave up painting in 1824, making his work rare. At this date he was a pupil of John Glover and the landscape drawing on the verso of this sheet is an essay in that artist’s manner.
33. JOHN HOPPNER R.A. 1758-1810
Portrait of a Woman Seated Under a Tree
Red and black chalks. c.1785. Inscribed ‘Hoppner’. 12.5x10.5 inches. Framed: 17.25x14.5 inches.
This spectacular drawing is stylistically typical of the portrait drawings Hoppner made in red and black chalks in the 1780s. It is unusual, however, that the sitter is shown full-length and that the background has been so well developed. The drawing of the trees can be related to landscape drawings by Hoppner in the British Museum and the figure to works such as the portrait of his wife Phoebe, also in the British Museum. Phoebe Hoppner often sat as a model for her husband. Unknown sitters are sometimes erroneously identified as her. But given this person’s similarity to Phoebe and the scale, complexity and tendeness of the work, it is reasonable to speculate that it is her.
34. GERTRUDE JEKYLL
1843-1932
London, ‘Top of Elm Tree, South Kensington’
Watercolour and gouache. c.1865.
Provenance: an album of works by Jekyll, with William Drummond. Exhibited: William Drummond, Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932) The Early Years, 1993, No.19. 4.25x3.25 inches. Framed: 11x9 inches.
This sensitive study of an Elm may have been made when Jekyll was a student at the South Kensington School of Art. Jekyll went on to be the most influential garden designer in British history, working regularly with Lutyens. Her fame as a gardener, however, overshadowed that fact that she practised as a painter - her approach to garden design being strongly influenced by impressionist painting - interior designer, metalworker, wood-carver and embroiderer. Bill Drummond poignantly observed in his entry for this drawing, ‘It is sad to see how changed the [London] landscape is now, with hardly an Elm tree surviving’.
35. HARRY JOHN JOHNSON 1826-1884
East Sussex; Sunset at Seaford
Watercolour and gouache.
Stamped with the artist’s monogram and inscribed. Ex. Collection: Martin Hardie (1875-1952).
6.5x10 inches. Framed: 13x16 inches.
Johnson was a pupil of William James Muller (1812-1845), with whom he went to Asia Minor in 1843. He went on to travel widely himself, in Southern Europe and North Africa. His exhibits at the Royal Academy are all of far-flung places, and while he did make paintings of British subjects, there are far less of them. His travel pictures usually depict architecture or topography set against dramatic skies, relying on the latter to give them a feeling of the exotic. In Sussex he has found a sky as beautiful as any he would have found on his distant wanderings.
36. EDWARD LEAR 1812-1888
Sicily; Agrigento, the Temple of Concordia
Pen, brush and ink.
Inscribed and dated, ‘31 May 1847’. 6x9 inches. Framed: 12x15 inches.
Lear was in Sicily with John Proby during May and June 1847. They met at Palermo and set off on the 11th May for a thorough explore of the island. They found the place painfully hot and in extreme poverty. There was very little food available and almost nothing fresh, making it a difficult expedition. In 1938 a number of Lear’s comic cartoons from this trip were published. A few show Lear and Proby at Agrigento (then ‘Girgenti’), including one of the companions trying to sketch while being attacked by swarms of insects. As ever, Lear was a man of contradictions. Despite the hardships of the journey, he wrote to his sister ‘Nothing on earth can be so beautiful as Girgenti with its 6 temples – I speak of the old town and the flowers and birds are beyond imagination lovely.’
37. JULES LESSORE 1849-1892
Italy; Ca’ d’Oro, Venice
Watercolour. c.1880. Signed. 10x14 inches. Framed: 17.5x.21.5 inches.
Lessore was the son of the great ceramic artist and painter Emile Lessore (1805-1876). He was born in Paris and settled in England in the 1870s. As both his son Frederick (a sculptor and founder of the Beaux Arts Gallery) and daughter Therese (a painter and wife of Walter Sickert) are unquestionably British artists, he is often considered one too. That said, his work, typified by this rich watercolour made on the Grand Canal, retains a distinctly French feel. It always contains at least a nod towards the watercolours made by the Barbizon school of his father’s generation.
38. JOHN LINNELL 1792-1882
Moonrise
Chalk, watercolour and gouache. 7x10 inches. Framed: 14.5x.16.5 inches.
This beautiful rendering of moonlight is a pair to the drawing of a sunset sold at Christies on 11th November 1969, Lot 56. That sheet is the same size, is signed and was drawn in the same combination of chalks with a little wash. While Linnell here has used a dark buff coloured sheet to aid darkness, the other sheet is on blue paper. Both works were made in this impressive, rapid manner, with the landscape being added first in washes and the foliage last, using the point of a black stick of chalk.
39. LUDDITE EXECUTION 1816
The New Drop erected the 20th of Nov 1816 for the Execution of James Towle
ANONYMOUS HAND Pencil, pen, ink and watercolour. 1816. Inscribed, ‘Perspective View of the New Drop erected the 20th of Nov 1816 at the new Gaol for the Execution of James Towle a Luddite for breaking 53 lace frames on the night of the 28th June 1816 at the factory of Messrs Heathcote & Boden at Loughborough, the damage done in the office in half an hour was from 7 to 8000£’. 11.25x9 inches. Framed: 13.5x11.5 inches.
James Towle was a framework-knitter from Basford near Nottingham. He was tried and acquitted of a Luddite attack in 1814 but was convicted in 1816 for another attack during which a guard was shot and wounded. Towle, in the numerous contemporary reports and documents that refer to this case, appears a man of high-principal, strongly wed to his beliefs. The evening before his execution he finally handed over details of the Luddite gang of which he was a member, and which he believed had betrayed him, bitterly regretting he hadn’t done so sooner and avoided his fate. The accounts of his execution are moving; the ‘affecting farewell of his wife and four young children’, the ‘undaunted step’ with which he walked on to the drop, the hymn he sang in a ‘firm and audible voice’, the fall of the platform which ‘launched him into eternity’.
40. DAVID LYON fl. c.1755-1780
A Summer Peregrination: The Embarkation and Resuscitation
Gouache. Both signed. The first dated, 1777. 5x5.5 inches (each). Framed: 7.5x8 inches (each).
These characterful gouaches show a group of friends on a Summer walk. In the first they set off, led and encouraged by the man in red. The second shows them resting, exhausted from the heat. Their guide stands refreshing himself with the contents of a glass bottle that the man in blue seems anxious not to miss out on! The artist must be the David Lyon who made sporting pictures in the manner of James Seymour (1702-1752) and exhibited at the Free Society in 1774.
41. DOMINGO MARÍA DE SERVIDORI 1724-1790
Joseph Pinfold Esq, Merchant in Italy
Pen and ink on vellum. c.1755. Inscribed ‘Mr Pinfold / Sr. / While I was dra / wing your Picture I / could not hinder my self from / admiring in the Original that / grandeur of soul and best of Mo / morals so natural in you: which has / made such an impression in my hart / that no time is capable of Effacing / the same, the effects of which / wil make me ambitious at / all times of meriting the ti / tle of / Sr. / Yr. most Obt. Hble. Sert. / F Domco. Ma. de Servitori. Further inscibed to a label verso of the frame, ‘Joseph Pinfold Esq. ./ Drawn in Italy / for Miss Isabell & Louisa Pinfold / ...’. 4.5x3.5 inches. Framed: 7x6 inches.
The sitter is presumably the ‘Pinfold, Merchant’ recorded in Leghorn in 1755 and who in January that year met Robert Adam (See Ingamells). He is depicted as a successful merchant in a fur-trimmed coat, a fleet of ships visible out of the window behind him. Servidori was a Dominican painter, draughtsman, calligrapher, and writing-master. He was Spanish but born and educated in Rome. In 1757 he was granted an annuity to work as a draughtsman and miniaturist by Ferdinand VI.
42. MARY MITFORD fl. c.1760-1780
A Dutch River Scene in Winter
Watercolour. c.1770.
Provenance: Bonhams, 15th March 1989; Abbott and Holder. 9x14.5inches. Framed: 15.5x20 inches.
This is one of the six watercolours that came to light in 1989 and established Mary Mitford as a talented amateur painter. Nothing is known about her life or artistic training. But both of her brothers, Colonel William Mitford (1744-1827) and John Mitford, later 1st Baron Redesdale (1748-1830), were pupils of Gilpin at Cheam. So, she had at least the second-hand influence of Gilpin via them. The few watercolours known by her seem to be copies, either from works by her drawing master(s) or from other sources set for her by them. This confident watercolour must, for example, have been taken from an earlier Dutch print or drawing.
43. JOHN HAMILTON MORTIMER P.S.A.
1740-1779
Banditti and Pilgrims
Pen and ink. c.1773/74.
Provenance: Jane Mortimer’s sale, 25th March 1808, lot 50 (6 gns to Stear); [...]; Christie’s, London, 14th July 1987, lot 14. Literature: J. Sunderland, ‘John Hamilton Mortimer, His Life and Works’, The Walpole Society, LII, 1988, p. 155, no. 79.
Exhibited: Society of Artists, 1773, no. 208 or 1774, no. 175 and 176. 11.5 inches diameter (each). Framed: 17.5x17.5 inches.
These are fantastic examples of the large scale, finely worked drawings for which Mortimer was so admired. They must be one of the two pairs of circular ink drawings of heads he exhibited at the Society of Artists in 1773 and 1774. Sunderland did not know the whereabouts of these drawings when he published his catalogue raisonné (there must have been a frustrating overlap between the catalogue being submitted and these drawings appearing at Christie’s). He rightly suggested that a related, smaller drawing in the V&A is a preliminary sketch for the Banditti. Both drawings were engraved by Joseph Hayes as a pair in 1780.
44. FRANCIS NICHOLSON O.W.S. 1753-1844
Yorkshire; The River Nidd with Knaresborough in the Distance
Watercolour. c.1810.
Provenance: Bonhams, 11th March, 2003, Lot. 19; Private Collection. 7.25x10 inches. Framed: 12x15 inches.
Nicholson was a Yorkshire-man through and through and the majority of his works are Yorkshire subjects. He was born in Pickering and lived at various times in Whitby, Ripon and Knaresborough, where this view was made. He only moved to London in his 50s, becoming a founder member of the Society of Painters in Watercolours in 1804. This small painting, in perfect colour, is a fine example of his ability to enliven a topographical view with a warm glow of light and well observed figures. Knaresborough, sitting upstream above the river Nidd, can be seen in the distance. The famous castle ruin can be seen between trees on the right.
45. SAMUEL PALMER 1805-1881
Eventide
Watercolour, gouache and gum Arabic. c.1857.
Signed. Provenance: Christie’s, 7 November 1997, lot 32. 7.5x16.5 inches. Framed: 16.5x20 inches.
This watercolour is a fine example of the work Palmer was making in the 1850s and 60s. It is in perfect original condition, making all aspects of the picture, from the distant shipping, to the light on the hills in the middle-distance, to the textured foliage in the foreground legible and in register. Scott Wilcox has perfectly summed up Palmer’s work of this period as attempting ‘[...] to unite the probing and restless naturalism, to which Ruskin responded, with the great compositional and poetic truths embodied in the classical tradition’. The figure of the shepherd here is very close in pose to the figure in Palmer’s famous ‘Sleeping Shepherd’ print (1857) and its related watercolour (1854). The figure was probably based on a Roman sculpture of Endymion in the British Museum.
46. JOHN RENTON 1770-1841
The Flower Girl and the Harvesters
Pen, ink and monochrome wash. c.1800. 15.5x12 inches. Framed: 22x18.5 inches.
This drawing shows a flower girl coming across a party of harvesters on the banks of a river. Bucolic scenes of harvesters and paintings of fresh faced country youths were popular at this date. But this particular subject, with its stong narative feel and interesting composition, is unusual. Renton’s father was head gardiner for Conrad Loddiges at the famous plant nursery in Hackney (see the drawing of a flower girl by Renton in our Exhibition of British Works on Paper 2024). So, this scene may be somewhere on the River Lea.
47. GEORGE ROMNEY 1734-1802
Macbeth, The Banqueting Scene (Act III, Scene 4)
Pencil. c.1792.
Provenance: a sketchbook of Romney drawings belonging to Victor Chan. 7x9.5 inches. Framed: 14.5x16.5 inches.
Romney was making drawings of Shakespeare subjects from an early date. But he took them up again with gusto in the early 1790s, originally intending to contribute a scene from Macbeth to Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery. This sheet is typical of his sketchbook drawings of this date; vigorously made, at great pace, exploring complicated and dramatic compositions with ease. He filled numerous sketchbook pages in one sitting, repeating a design again and again, often with little change. This must have served a function in teasing out as much value from an arrangement of figures as possible. But, there is also an obssessive feel to these drawings, perhaps it was just the cathartic pleasure of letting off creative steam.
48. THOMAS ROWLANDSON 1756-1827
Two Fashionable Ladies Reading
Pencil, brush and wash with touches of heightening. c.1785.
Provenance: George Guy, fourth Earl of Warwick (1818-1893), his stamp recto (L.2600).
Exhibited: The Fine Art Society, April 1948, No.65. 8x11.5 inches. Framed: 16.5x18.5 inches.
This beautiful drawing of two women reading shows an unfamiliar side of Rowlandson. We are used to his witty, critical eye, to satires that range from the playful (Cf. No.49) to outright shocking. It proves, if there was any doubt, that he was the human observer par excellence of his day. There are two prints of women reading made at this date, both of which are simliar in tone to this drawing. Given the intimate nature of the drawing, it is possible the woman on the right is his sister Elizabeth Howitt, to whom she bears a resemblance.
49. THOMAS ROWLANDSON 1756-1827
Returning from Market - A Romance
Pen, ink and watercolour. c.1790. Exhibited: Squire Gallery c.1950s 10.5x15.5 inches. Framed:19.5x23.5 inches.
This large sheet is a good example of Rowlandson’s ability to seemlessly thread humour and narative into an otherwise bucolic scene. A party is returning from market along a lane that tracks a picturesque river. A young man makes overtures to the beautiful young woman on horseback. Is he a wayfarer they have passed on the road, or someone who has seen the party at the market and followed them in pursuit? Futher down the road ride a man and woman, surely the young maiden’s parents. The mother, turning in her saddle has just noticed something is happening behind them.
50. PAUL SANDBY R.A. 1731-1809
London; A view of Vanbrugh Fields, Greenwich
Watercolour. c.1790.
Exhibited: Colnaghi. Ex. Collection: Edward Basil Jupp; Thomas William Walker; John William House Richardson & Elizabeth Richardson Simmons. 9x12.5 inches. Framed: 17x20 inches.
Paul Sandby was drawing master at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich (near Greenwich) from 1768 until 1796. He also rented lodgings in Old Charlton, just east of the location seen here. So, this would have been a spot he knew well. We are looking across Vanbrugh fields on the east side of Greenwich park, with the Vanbrugh Gate in the centre and Vanbrugh Castle, the house Vanbrugh built for himself c.1719, on the left. The gate and other buildings Vanbrugh built for members of his family are no longer standing making this an interesting record as well as a beautiful watercolour.
51. ROBERT SURTEES 1737-1801
A Life Drawing, the Model Taking a Pose for Vulcan
Pencil. c.1755-59. Verso: studies of heads and a seated man in contemporary dress.
Provenance: Probably Christie’s, 18th March 1980, Lot 6 (an album of drawings and prints by Surtees); [...]; Arnold Fellows. 20x14 inches. Framed: 30x21.5 inches.
Robert Surtees of Mainsforth Hall in Co. Durham was in Italy c.1755-59 and this drawing, on Italian paper of the mid-eighteenth century, was likely made there. It is a highly confident and skilled life drawing which suggests he was attending an academy of art. The model must be taking a pose for Vulcan in his forge and is gripping a short piece of rope to mimic the handle of a hammer. An album of drawings by Surtees was sold at Christies in 1980. As this drawing was acquired tabbed to an album page it presumably came from it. On the verso is another confident but broad sketch of a seated man wearing a tricorn hat.
52. Circle of HENRY TRESHAM R.A. c.1751-1814
Ganymede and Zeus
Pen and ink. c.1780. Numbered ‘226’ lower right.
Provenance: Private Collection, London since 1994.
8x6.25 inches. Framed: 13.5x11.5 inches.
It has been suggested in the past that this drawing is by Henry Tresham. It is certainly typical of the work being made by a group of British and Continental artists who were working in Rome in the 1770s and 1780s and of which he was part. This group also included artists such as Barry, Brown, Runciman, and Romney and centered around Fuseli. They all made drawings of great strength, invariably in monochrome ink and washes, using the figure to dramatic effect. These drawing were almost always made as ends in themselves rather than studies for paintings. Zeus fell in love with the mortal Ganymede (as God’s were prone to do) and abducted him. Ganymede became Zeus’s cupbearer and was granted immortality. For centuries he was used as a symbol of homosexual love which this tender image beautifully coveys.
53. CHARLES VACHER 1818-1883
Suffolk; The One Hundred Steps at Shrubland Hall
Watercolour and gouache. Signed and dated, 1854.
Exhibited: Hazlitt, Gooden and Fox. 9.5x17 inches. Framed:17.5x24.5 inches.
Charles Vacher is known for his travel pictures, particularly of Italy, which is perhaps why he was drawn to this most Italianate of gardens. The present Shrubland Hall was designed by James Paine (1717-1789) in the 1770s. ‘The One Hundred Steps’ lead from the Balcony Garden to the Lower Panel Garden and were built c.1850 as a part of landscaping works carried out by Sir Charles Barry (1795-1860). They were modelled on the gardens of the Villa D’Este, Tivoli and form a significant part of what is considered the finest nineteenth century garden in Suffolk. We see them here newly built and at the height of their fashionability.
54. CORNELIUS VARLEY F.R.S.A. 1781-1873
Old Thatched and Timber Framed Buildings
Pencil and watercolour. c.1805.
Verso: a pencil sketch of a mountainous landscape, indistinctly inscribed with notes. 6x5x9 inches. Framed: 11x13.5 inches.
Varley made many spirited watercolours of old buildings, be they stoney and Welsh or timber framed such as this. No matter the materials, these studies are wonderfully variegated and revel in different textures. There is a sketch of an expansive landscape with a large mountain in the distance on the verso of this sheet, so it may have been made on one of his trips to Wales. Perhaps it was made in the borders, or Herefordshire.
55. CORNELIUS VARLEY F.R.S.A. 1781-1873
Wales; ‘Cader Idris’
Watercolour. 1803. Inscribed verso. ‘Cader Idris N.W.’.
Exhibited: Colnaghi, Drawings and Watercolours by Cornelius Varley, 1973, Cat No.70; Lowell Libson, Of the Moment: British Landscape and Figure Studies ..., 2007, Cat No.31. 8x10 inches. Framed: 11x14 inches.
This is one of the watercolours Varley made on his famous expedition to Cader Idris with Joshua Cristall. The work is exactly the same view as a drawing inscribed ‘Cader Idris from the path to Pistyll Cain’ and dated, 1803. While that drawing is concerned with accurately plotting the bones of the landscape, this is a more poetic response to the grandeur of the mountain and the fall of light. Varley handles his watercolour beautifully.
GALLERY HISTORY
Robert Abbott and Eric Holder started dealing together in 1936. In 1942 they published the first of our famous ‘Lists’. Now issued online, they introduce one hundred new items to our stock every month.
After World War II Abbott bought a large house in Castelnau Road, London that served as both gallery and his home. That house became something of a Mecca for enthusiasts and has an important place in the history of collecting. In 1987 John Abbott (Robert’s nephew) and Philip Athill moved the company to our current premises in Museum Street, just opposite the British Museum. Here we always have hundreds of works from the eighteenth to twentieth century on view over two floors. We also host regular exhibitions by individual artists and stand at Fairs.
Tom Edwards joined the company in 2003 having read History of Art at the Courtauld Institute. He became a Director in 2012 and from 2021 has been owner and Managing Director. Tom is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars, a Trustee of the Fine Arts Provident Institution and a council member of the British Antiques Dealers Association.