BRITISH DRAWINGS AND WATERCOLOURS FROM THE 18TH TO THE 20TH CENTURIES
GUY PEPPIATT
HARRY MOORE-GWYN
FINE ART
BRITISH ART
Guy Peppiatt Harry Moore-Gwyn
BRITISH DRAWINGS AND WATERCOLOURS FROM THE 18TH TO THE 20TH CENTURIES WINTER CATALOGUE 2021 - 2022 To be exhibited at Ground Floor, 6 Mason’s Yard, Duke Street, St James’s, London SW1Y 6BU
GUY PEPPIATT
HARRY MOORE-GWYN
FINE ART
BRITISH ART
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7930 3839
Tel: +44 (0)7765 966 256
or +44 (0) 7956 968 284
harry@mooregwynfineart.co.uk
guy@peppiattfineart.co.uk
www.mooregwynfineart.co.uk
www.peppiattfineart.co.uk
Front cover: Paul Nash (1889-1946)
Sunset Eye, Study 5 [cat.89] Opposite page: Lieutenant-General Ezekiel Barton (1781-1855)
A Cliff overhung with Trees [cat.10]
Back cover: Andrew Nicholl, RHA (1804-1886)
Cattle grazing by a river, Windsor Castle beyond [cat.40]
Introduction We are delighted to present our first joint catalogue of British Drawings and Watercolours. The exhibition will run throughout December 2021 with remaining works being on show in the gallery into the early new year of 2022. As well as marking a new venture, this catalogue also marks a new chapter for the Ground Floor at 6 Mason’s Yard following Harry Moore-Gwyn and Nicholas Shaw’s move to the space to join Guy Peppiatt in November 2021. This will enable further exciting collaborations and exhibitions between all three of the dealers who will now occupy this fine St James’s gallery space. This Winter catalogue focuses on the remarkable depth and variety that characterises work on paper by British artists working over some three centuries. We hope this range offers something for every taste, whether that is an eighteenth century portrait drawing, a watercolour from the established Golden Age (1750-1850), something from the field of Pre-Raphaelite, Victorian or Modern British drawing, or else a watercolour from the strong tradition in this medium that endured well into the later twentieth century. As well as presenting work by significant names in the field including Thomas Rowlandson, Peter de Wint, and John Varley (from the period up to 1850) and Edward Burne-Jones, Paul Nash and Graham Sutherland (from the period since 1850), the catalogue also aims to promote the very many unjustly neglected figures from the period. Such artists also represent astonishing value for money in today’s market, enabling the range in the pricing that we have been able to offer here; from around £1,000 to over £15,000. We very much hope there is something that appeals to you from the catalogue and we look forward to welcoming you in the gallery over the next few months. Harry Moore-Gwyn Guy Peppiatt
The following catalogue contains a combination of drawings from the stock of Guy Peppiatt Fine Art (GPFA) and Harry Moore-Gwyn (HM-G). Those of the former are marked GPFA and the latter HM-G at the top of each page; please therefore direct any enquires as appropriate. The drawings are for sale from receipt of the catalogue. A price list is included.
Opposite page: Peter de Wint (1784-1849)
Study of Wagons and a Figure by Trees [cat.15] 2
G U Y P E P P I AT T F I N E A RT
3
GPFA
[cat.1]
Thomas Worlidge (1700-1766) Portrait of a Cleric With collector’s mark lower left (Lugt no.474) and inscribed verso: 3D L1 Black chalk on laid paper Sheet 29.3 by 21.9 cm., 11 ½ by 8 ½ in. Provenance: Charles Paul Jean-Baptiste de Bourgevin Vialart, Comte de Saint-Morys (1743-1795); By descent to his son, Charles Etienne de Bourgevin Vialart (1772-1817), his sale, Henry Phillips, 37 New Bond Street, London, 13th June 1797, lot 1 (part), bt. Rowlandson for 4 shillings; Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827) Literature: Julian Brooks and Casey Lee, ‘Transcriptions of Auctioneer Henry Phillips’s Annotated Catalogues of the 1797 and 1799 Sales of the Drawings of the Comte de Carrière’, Master Drawings, online article, 2021, ill. p.18
Worlidge was the son of a London lawyer who received his training with the Italian painter Alessandro Grimaldi and learnt printmaking with the French engraver Boitard. He lived between Bath and London and his etchings in the manner of Rembrandt were particularly popular. This drawing is a particularly fine and highly finished example of his portraits. The collector’s mark on this drawing has only recently been identified (see Julian Brooks and Casey Lee, ‘The Identification of the “Pseudo4
Crozat’’ Mark (Lugt 474): Saint-Morys and Carrière’, Master Drawings, vol. 59, no.3, Fall 2021, pp.391-409). The Comte de Saint-Morys fled the French Revolution in September 1790 and remained in London until his death in August 1795. During this time, he put together a collection which was sold by his son at auction in 1797. The inscription on the reverse of this drawing, ‘D3 L1’, indicates that it was included in lot 1 on day 3 of the sale. An annotated version of the catalogue in the Wallace Collection tells us that this drawing was bought by the artist Thomas Rowlandson.
GPFA
[cat.2]
John Russell, RA (1745-1806) Portrait of Philip Glover of Heacham and Sedgeford, Norfolk Head and shoulders Pastel and black chalk on blue laid paper Approx. 26.7 by 21.1 cm., 10 ½ by 8 ¼ in. Provenance: Probably Edwin Lawrence, 1894;. Dr C.R. Rudolf (Lugt no. 2811b) (1884-1974); With the Maas Gallery, London, where bought by Walter Brandt, 1963; By descent until 2019
Lieutenant Philip Glover (1773-1816) served in the 6th Inniskilling Dragoons. He married Launce Campbell (b. 1770) of Scotland and they had six children. Born in Guildford, the son of a bookseller, Russell was the pre-eminent portrait painter in pastel in London from the death of Francis Cotes in 1770 until his own death in 1806. He studied under Cotes in about 1767 and entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1770. He exhibited 329 pictures at the Royal Academy and at the height of his fame he charged 30 guineas for a head portrait and £150 for
large full-lengths; similar to the President of the Royal Academy, Sir Joshua Reynolds. This drawing belongs to a group of quickly executed pastel sketches which have an immediacy which his finished works can lack. It is probably part of a portfolio of life-size head studies by Russsell recorded by Williamson in the collection of Edwin Lawrence (see G.C. Williamson, John Russell R.A., 1894, p.151). Other drawings from this group are in the Yale Center for British Art and the Ashmolean Museum. Another was sold as part of the Colin Hunter collection at Sotheby’s on 11th July 1991, lot 77. 5
GPFA
[cat.3]
Attributed to James Dunthorne the Younger (c.1758-c.1793) Tea in the Lower Assembly Rooms, Bath Pen and black ink and watercolour over traces of pencil with pen and ink border Sheet 40.2 by 55.4 cm., 15 ¾ by 21 ¾ in. Provenance: Anonymous sale, Sotheby's, 23rd November 1966, lot 254; Sir Walter Brandt (1902-1978); By descent until 2019
James Dunthorne was born in Colchester and established himself as an artist and print dealer in his native town. His father, another James was also an artist, as well as occasional mapmaker and surveyor. Dunthorne junior specialised in genre subjects and domestic scenes, especially of provincial English society engaged in such pursuits as card parties, skating, concerts, auctions and assemblies. Dubbed the ‘Colchester Hogarth’, his 6
works allow fascinating glimpses into Georgian life. Some of his works were engraved by Thomas Rowlandson and he exhibited regularly between 1782 and 1793 at the Royal Academy. The present lively depiction of provincial life is characteristic of Dunthorne’s work, the figures are gentle caricatures, capturing in a lively and amusing manner, society’s enjoyment in taking tea and gossiping.
GPFA
[cat.4]
John Raphael Smith (1752-1812) Portrait of Anthony Clarke of Lady Wootton's Green, Canterbury; Portrait of Mrs Matilda Clarke A pair, oval, coloured chalks Each approx. 20.8 by 16.2 cm., 8 by 6 ¼ in. Provenance: Mrs George Pidduck, Canterbury, the sale of her effects, 27th November 1882; Dr John A. Packer, Canterbury
Anthony Clarke (1760-1830), a stockbroker, married Matilda Hill Macaree (1760-1835) in Canterbury in 1790. The Clarkes were friends of John Raphael Smith and his family. Matilda Clarke inherited £15,000 and decided to give it to Smith’s daughter
Emma to enable her to marry a barrister Robert Smith. Anthony and Matilda Clarke, and John Raphael Smith, were witnesses to the marriage which took place in Marylebone on 10th August 1808.
7
GPFA
[cat.5]
Samuel Hieronymous Grimm (1733-1794) Schöllenen Gorge and the Devil’s Bridge between Clarus and the Grisons, Switzerland Signed lower right: S.H. Grimm fecit 1775 and inscribed verso: Die Hand (The Wall)/A pafsage over Mount Shindelberg, which leads from the Canton of Glarus to the Grisons,/it winds along allmost perpendicular & sometimes prominent Rocks & pointed ridges, several/arched bridges are built over water which fall from these steep Rocks. The Road or rather path is/in some parts not above 4 inches broad & only practicable in the height of Summer/the roks are inhabited by herds of Chamois or Mountain goats Pen and grey ink and watercolour heightened with white on laid Whatman paper 34.5 by 27.2 cm., 13 ½ by 10 ¾ in. Provenance: Anonymous sale, Sotheby’s, 26th November 1998, lot 45
Grimm was born in Switzerland but moved to France in 1765 and settled in England from 1768. This watercolour is based on sketches he made on a tour of Switzerland in 1758. In 1774 one of Grimm’s patrons commissioned him to produce a 8
series of Alpine views which he called ‘Seven Capital Views of Switzerland.’ The present watercolour is a version of one of these, all of which are dated 1775 (see Rotha Mary Clay, Samuel Hieronymous Grimm, 1941, pls. 12-13).
GPFA
[cat.6]
William Day (1764-1807) View of Colchester Castle, Essex Signed lower left: W. Day and signed on reverse of original washline mount: Drawn by W. Day and with an erroneous inscription King John's Palace at Eltham Pen and grey ink and watercolour over traces of pencil on laid paper 27.6 by 37.8 cm., 10 ¾ by 14 ¾ in.
William Day was an accomplished amateur artist, who exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1782 and 1801, as an Honorary Exhibitor. The brief facts about Day and his work were assembled by the late Judy Egerton in an article in Connoisseur magazine in July 1970, pp. 176-185, which remains the main source of information on his life. Colchester Castle has the largest Norman keen in Europe. Begun in 1079 it was built over the Roman Temple of Claudius, constructed when the town was the capital of Roman Britain. Due to the lack of suitable local stone, the Normans plundered
Roman Colchester, to build the keep and incorporated the base of the temple into the foundations of the Great Tower. By the 13th Century it became a prison and despite the fact that much of the castle was ruined by the 16th Century, it continued to serve as such until 1668. In 1645 ‘Witchfinder General’ Matthew Hopkins appropriated it as a base for interrogating and imprisoning those believed to be witches. The antiquarian Charles Grey acquired the castle in 1727 and set about restoring it, although he thought it was a Roman building, which influenced some of his decisions. It became a museum in 1860. 9
GPFA
[cat.7]
Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827) Study of Trees Pen and grey ink and pencil 28.5 by 44 cm., 11 ¼ by 17 ¼ in.
Although best known as a caricaturist, Rowlandson also produced a number of pure landscape watercolours, which demonstrate a sophistication and elegance of handling, as well as a deep understanding of the natural world. The emphasis in the present drawing is clearly on the shape and form of the two majestic trees, rather than in the large house that they frame, which has only been very slightly sketched in. The vivacity of line and refined handling of light and shade, demonstrate the
10
artist’s extraordinary prowess as a draughtsman, as well as indicating the influence of Gainsborough on the younger artist. In 1788, Rowlandson produced a series of soft ground etchings of a number of Gainsborough’s drawings. This drawing has traditionally been identified as being a view of Knole, Kent, however, the sketch of a building between the trees, despite being slight, does not appear to depict Knole.
GPFA
[cat.8]
John Laporte (1769-1831) Scene in Knole Park, the seat of the Duke of Dorset Inscribed with title on backboard Gouache 32.5 by 47.1 cm., 12 ¾ by 18 ½ in. Provenance: London, Royal Academy, 1829, no.443
Laporte established himself as a topographical landscape painter and print maker, as well as a drawing master, numbering Dr Thomas Monro amongst his pupils. He exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy and elsewhere from 1785. He worked in both watercolour and, as is evidenced in the present work, he also produced works entirely in gouache (bodycolour). As Kim Sloan notes, ‘landscapists employed bodycolour particularly for works for exhibition because it was closer to oil in effect and colour and literally a stronger ‘presence’ on crowded exhibition walls than tinted watercolour drawings’. (Kim Sloan, A Noble Art, Amateur Artists and Drawing Masters c. 1600 – 1800, 2000, p. 144)
The present work shows Knole House, near Sevenoaks, Kent, nestled in the vast deer park that surrounded it. From 1603, it was owned by the Sackville family and is one of the largest houses in England, with nearly 400 rooms and occupying some 4 acres. Charles Sackville, 5th Duke of Dorset (1767–1843) inherited the title on the death of his cousin, George, who died young, after a fall from his horse in 1815. Charles died unmarried and childless in 1843 and the title became extinct. Although the backboard describes Knole as the seat of the Duke of Dorset, which had been the case, following the death of the 4th Duke in 1815, Knole had passed to his sister Lady Elizabeth Sackville and not to Charles, 5th Duke of Dorset, whose seat was Drayton House, Northamptonshire. 11
GPFA
[cat.9]
Robert Cleveley (1747-1809) Under Kew Bridge on the Thames, London Inscribed on original washline border: Under Kew Bridge Pen and black ink and watercolour 12.3 by 19.9 cm., 4 ¾ by 7 ¾ in. Provenance: Anonymous sale, Sotheby’s, 15th March 1984, lot 4
This is a view from under old Kew bridge which replaced the old wooden bridge in 1789. It was designed by James Paine and had seven arches. This is probably a view on the north bank looking east towards Strand-on-the-Green. This is one of a group of Thames views by Cleveley of the same size presumably originating from a sketchbook. Others include ‘Buccleuch House, 12
Richmond’ (Christie’s, 5th June 2006, lot 17), ‘Barges at Mortlake’ (Christie’s, 14th December 1971, lot 21) and ‘Richmond Hill from the banks of the Thames near Ham House’ (with Guy Peppiatt Fine Art, 2008).
GPFA
[cat.10]
Lieutenant-General Ezekiel Barton (1781-1855) A Cliff overhung with Trees Watercolour and pencil 54 by 37 cm., 21 ¼ by 14 ½ in. Provenance: With Spink and Son, 1979 (K3 6425/4) Exhibited: London, Spink & Son, India – drawings from an album, March-April 1979, no.4
A highly accomplished amateur artist, Barton served in the Indian army from 1799 to 1845, rising to Colonel of the 46th Bengal Regiment. He spent his early years surveying large parts of the country and his skill impressed John Hodgeson, senior officer in the Surveyor-General’s Department who commented: 'Lt Barton...is exceeded by no one as a
Draftsman, either in taking views or giving to Maps and Plans an exquisitely beautiful finish'. He was influenced by the work of Thomas and William Daniell, both of whom had spent a number of years in India, but also as evidenced by the present watercolour, by that of Francis Towne and John White Abbott. 13
GPFA
[cat.11]
Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827) A Devotee and an Astronomer Inscribed lower centre: a Devotee/an Astronomer Pen and grey ink and watercolour 9.5 by 14 cm., 3 ¾ by 5 ½ in.
The title refers to one horse being on his knees and the other looking up at the sky.
14
GPFA
[cat.12]
John Flaxman, The Bard
RA
(1755-1826)
Pen and grey ink over pencil 27.7 by 28.7 cm., 10 ¾ by 11 ¼ in. Provenance: Gerald Robinson; L.G. Duke (1890-1971); Iolo A. Williams (1890-1962); By descent until sold at Sotheby’s, 31st March 1999, lot 6
This drawing relates to William Blake’s poem ‘The Voice of the Ancient Bard’, published in ‘Songs of Innocence’ in 1789 and again in ‘Songs of Innocence and Experience’ in 1794. Flaxman’s drawing echoes the poem but differs from Blake’s own illustrations. 15
GPFA
[cat.13]
John Glover (1769-1849) Bayham Abbey, Kent Inscribed verso in ink: -Glover- and in pencil: 158 Abbey near Tonbridge Wells Watercolour over pencil 28.7 by 41.1 cm., 11 ¼ by 16 in.
Bayham Abbey sits on the river Teise near Lamberhurst in Kent. It was founded by a Norman landowner Ralph de Dene in 1200 and was dissolved by Cardinal Wolseley in 1525. The estate belonged
16
to the Camden in the late eighteenth century and they built Bayham Old Abbey House with grounds landscaped by Humphry Repton. The Abbey is now owned by English Heritage.
GPFA
[cat.14]
Peter de Wint (1784-1849) Figures outside a Cottage Watercolour over traces of pencil 22.6 by 17.1 cm., 8 ¾ by 6 ¾ in. Provenance: The Artist's studio sale, Christie's, 23rd May 1850, lot 145, bought Farmer for £2.6s.0d; With the Fry Gallery, 1984 Exhibited: London Fry Gallery, 12th to 30th November 1984, Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, 15th December to 13th January 1985, Peter de Wint – Bicentenary Loan Exhibition, no 37 17
GPFA
[cat.15]
Peter de Wint (1784-1849) Study of Wagons and a Figure by Trees Watercolour over pencil 26.2 by 24.2 cm., 10 ¼ by 9 ½ in. Provenance: Cyril Fry
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GPFA
[cat.16]
Peter de Wint (1784-1849) Wilton Castle, Yorkshire With a watercolour sketch of a town on a river verso and inscribed: Wilton Castle Yorkshire Watercolour over pencil heightened with scratching out 24 by 32.4 cm., 9 ½ by 12 ¾ in.
Wilton Castle, which sits a few miles south of Redcar in North Yorkshire, was a ruin when it was bought by Sir John Lowther (1759-1844) in about 1806. He demolished the old buildings and employed Sir Robert Smirke to build a new castle in the gothic revival style in 1810. One wing was rebuilt in the 1880s and the Lowther family sold the estate to ICI in 1945. The company sold the house in 1999 and it is now luxury apartments.
Sir John’s brother, William Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale (1757-1844) was a great patron of the arts and a collector and friend of de Wint. He lived at Lowther Castle, Cumberland, which was rebuilt for him, also by Smirke, between 1806 and 1814. De Wint exhibited ‘View above Wilton Park, Yorkshire’ at the Society of Painters in Watercolours in 1833, no.153.
19
GPFA
[cat.17]
John Varley (1778-1842) Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland, from the north-west Signed lower right: J. Varley Watercolour over pencil heightened with touches of bodycolour 16.9 by 26.9 cm., 6 ½ by 10 ½ in. Provenance: With the Palser Gallery, Stratford-upon-Avon, circa 1950
Varley first visited Northumberland in 1803 but the present view originates from a sketchbook dated 1808 now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (see C.M. Kauffmann, John Varley (1778-1842), p.118, cat. 25). Other versions of this view are in the Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester, Manchester City Art Gallery and another, dated 1812, is recorded in a Swiss private collection (see Timothy Wilcox, John Varley 1778-1842, 2008, no. 10, ill.). 20
Bamburgh Castle was one of Varley’s favourite subjects. He exhibited ten views of the castle at the Society of Painters in Water-colours between 1809 and 1840. Stylistically the present watercolour dates from circa 1815.
GPFA
[cat.18]
John Varley (1778-1842) A Pond at Polesden Lacey, Surrey Watercolour over pencil 25.7 by 35.9 cm., 10 by 14 in.
Polesden Lacey is located on the North Downs near Dorking and is now a National Trust property. John Varley first visited Polesden Lacey with Dr Monro, who lived in nearby Fetcham in 1800 when the house belonged to Richard Sheridan. Dr Thomas Monro (1759-1833) was an early supporter and patron of Turner and Girtin, whose works
Varley would have seen in his collection. He was the physician at Bethlem Hospital and his London house on Adelphi Terrace off The Strand became a magnet for young artists. This watercolour belongs to a group of views by Varley taken at Polesden Lacey in the late 1820s.
21
GPFA
[cat.19]
Samuel Howitt (1756-1822) A Black Panther Inscribed on border and numbered 18 upper right Watercolour over pencil Image 26.2 by 22 cm., 10 ¼ by 8 ½ in. Provenance: Bradley Martin sale, Sotheby’s, New York, 14th June 1990, lot 3532 (part); Anonymous sale, Sotheby’s, 15th July 1993, lot 102
Howitt was born into a wealthy Quaker family and his early interest in art was as a self-taught amateur. However, when he found himself in financial difficulties, he turned to painting and drawing to provide an income. He specialised in sporting subjects and natural history and produced numerous illustrations for sporting and zoological 22
publications and exhibited regularly including at the Royal Academy. Howitt was friends with Rowlandson and George Morland, accompanying the former on his tour of the Isle of Wight in 1791. A few years later, in 1779, he married Rowlandson’s sister, Elizabeth.
GPFA
[cat.20]
George Richmond, RA (1809-1896) Portrait of Henry and Philip Fletcher Coloured chalks on paper laid on canvas Oval 61 by 61.5 cm., 24 by 24 ½ in. Literature: Raymond Lister, George Richmond, 1981, p.158, no.46
This is a portrait of Henry Charles Fletcher and his brother Philip, the sons of Major General Fletcher of the Scots Guards and his wife the Hon. Mrs Ellen Shore. Henry was later a Lt Colonel in the Scots Guards.
This portrait is dated in Richmond's stockbook to February 1840 and was sold for £31.10. It is described as ‘Captain Fletcher's Two children.’ Richmond drew a number of members of the Fletcher family between 1831 and 1850.
23
GPFA
[cat.21]
Samuel Austin (1796-1834) Unloading the Catch Signed lower centre: S. Austin Watercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour 30.5 by 50.7 cm., 12 by 20 in. Exhibited: Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, Centenary Exhibition of the Work of Samuel Austin (1796-1834), July to September 1934
Samuel Austin was born in Liverpool and initially established himself as a drawing master, teaching at a girls' school in Liverpool and taking private pupils. He exhibited regularly both in Liverpool and London, although he only exhibited once at the Royal Academy. Between 1822 and 1832 he exhibited over 100 drawings at the Liverpool Academy of which he was elected an associate in 1815 and
24
member in 1823. He was a founding member of the Society of British Artists and in 1827, he was elected an Associate of the Society of Painters in WaterColours, becoming a full member in 1833. The present watercolour is characteristic of Austin’s handling of watercolour, loosely applied in clear washes.
GPFA
[cat.22]
George Barret Junior (1767-1842) The Needles from Alum Bay, Isle of Wight, at Sunset Watercolour over traces of pencil heightened with bodycolour 20.5 by 34.4 cm., 8 by 13 ½ in.
This is a view looking west from Alum Bay, with the Needles visible in the distance. Barret exhibited a number of Isle of Wight views in the early 1820s. An earlier version of this view by Barret is in the Yale Center for British Art (B1977.14.4917). Barret Junior is best known for his Italianate landscapes in the manner of Claude.
25
GPFA
[cat.23]
Newton Smith Limbird Fielding (1799-1856) A Boat by a River Signed lower right: Newton Fielding 1825 Watercolour over pencil heightened with scratching out 15.6 by 24.2 cm., 6 by 9 ½ in.
Newton Fielding is the younger brother of Anthony Vandyke Copley Fielding (1787-1855) and ran the family engraving business in Paris from 1827 until 1830, with the young William Callow working for him. He briefly returned to England but spent most of his life in Paris. He is best known for his animal studies.
26
GPFA
[cat.24]
Richard Redgrave, Trees by a Stream
RA
(1804-1888)
Signed lower right: Richd Redgrave Watercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour and gum arabic 26.1 by 36.5 cm., 10 ¼ by 14 ¼ in.
Redgrave entered the Royal Academy schools at the comparatively late age of 22, following a brief spell in his father’s manufacturing business, which he disliked intensely. He subsequently exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy, the British Institution, and the Society of British Artists. He was elected ARA in 1840 and an Academician in 1851. Later Redgrave began to take on increasingly influential roles within arts administration and consequently his productivity as an artist declined.
Along with Henry Cole, he oversaw the opening of the South Kensington Museum. The two men also became the driving force behind the reform of art education in Great Britain. Redgrave held several key positions in the Government School of Design, where he was responsible for developing a national curriculum for art instruction. He was appointed Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures, in 1857, a post he held for over twenty years, and he organized the British art section for both the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1855 and the International Exhibition in London in 1862. 27
GPFA
[cat.25]
George Chinnery (1774-1852) Study of two Chinese women Pencil Sheet 14.5 by 18.6 cm., 5 ¾ by 7 ¼ in.
Chinnery was a landscape and portrait painter who studied at the Royal Academy Schools and spent some time in Dublin before abandoning his family and moving to Madras in 1802. He remained in India living in Madras, Calcutta, Dacca and Serampore before moving to Macao in 1825 to
28
escape debts and his wife. He spent the rest of his life in Macao, Canton and Hong Kong. He painted portraits of European merchants and produced landscape and portrait drawings in pencil and watercolour.
GPFA
[cat.26]
George Chinnery (1774-1852) Study for a Portrait of the Marjoribanks Family Pen and black ink over traces of pencil on laid paper 11.2 by 8.9 cm., 4 ¼ by 3 ½ in. Provenance: Leonard G. Duke (D2535) (1890-1971); By whom given to Dudley Snelgrove (1906- 1992), his sale, Sotheby’s, 19th November 1992, lot 332; By descent until 2019
This drawing appears to relate to a family portrait which has traditionally been identified as being of the Marjoribanks family (HSBC Holdings plc). However, as Patrick Conner has pointed out, ‘Chinnery’s portraits of westerners on the China coast pose …problems of identification’. (Patrick Conner, George Chinnery 1774 – 1852, Artist of India and the China Coast, 1999, p. 218). Charles Marjoribanks joined the Canton office of the East India Company in 1813 and became President of the Select Committee in 1830, responsible for the
Company’s Chinese operations. He also owned Hythe, the ship by which Chinnery sailed to Macao from Calcutta in February 1825. Marjoribanks fell ill and was invalided back to England in January 1832. We know that the Marjoribanks’ sat to Chinnery as, on a drawing of the Factories at Canton, Chinnery noted in his characteristic shorthand, ‘Mr Marjoriebanks’ picture taken home on York [the ship that the Marjoribanks themselves returned on] January 1832’ (Patrick Conner, op. cit., p. 220).
29
GPFA
[cat.27]
William Turner of Oxford (1789-1862) Oxford from the banks of the Thames at Iffley Black and white chalk on grey-brown paper 17.7 by 27 cm., 7 by 10 ½ in. Provenance: Thomas Penrose, New College, Oxford, 1814; With Thos. Agnew & Sons, 1980 Exhibited: London, Thos. Agnew & Sons, 107th Annual Exhibition of Watercolours and Drawings, 21st January to 15th February 1980, no. 135
This early view by Turner of Oxford shows a view looking north-west from the banks of the Thames near Iffley Church. The tower of Christchurch Cathedral is clearly visible to the left with the dome of the Sheldonian to the right. It was one of 24 drawings made into album by Turner in 1813 and priced at 6 guineas. It was bought by Thomas Penrose.
30
GPFA
[cat.28]
George Bryant Campion (1796-1870) Cliffs by the Sea Watercolour and bodycolour on grey paper 28.6 by 45.9 cm., 11 ¼ by 18 in.
Campion was one of the earliest members of the New Watercolour Society, exhibiting over 400 watercolours and serving as Vice-President between 1839 and 1841. In 1841 he was appointed to the post of Drawing Master at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich where he taught until his death in 1870. The artist’s use of grey paper in the present watercolour is typical of his work, as Campion preferred working on either grey or buff paper.
31
GPFA
[cat.29]
David Roberts, RA (1796-1864) The Amphitheatre at Pompeii, Italy Signed lower right: 1830/DRoberts and inscribed on border: Anfiteatro di Pompei 1830 Grey washes over pencil Sheet 30.2 by 38.7 cm., 12 by 15 ¼ in.
This may be a design for a theatre backdrop which Roberts painted for the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh and Covent Garden theatre in 1830. Roberts first visited the Naples area in 1853.
32
GPFA
[cat.30]
William Leighton Leitch (1804-1883) Santa Maria della Salute, Venice Signed lower left: W.L. Leitch Watercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour and scratching out 14 by 27.2 cm., 5 ½ by 10 ¾ in.
Leitch visited Italy in 1833 paid for by a stockbroker and client Mr Anderden. He remained there until July 1837. On his return he built up a successful practice as a drawing master, his pupils including Queen Victoria. This is a view of the church of Santa Maria della Salute looking across the Grand Canal, taken from near the Gritti Palace.
33
GPFA
[cat.31]
William Callow, RWS (1812-1888) Oystermouth Castle, Swansea Bay, Wales Signed lower left: Oystermouth Castle/Augt 13 1861/Wm Callow Watercolour over pencil 32.7 by 51.5 cm., 12 ¾ by 20 ¼ in. Provenance: With Spink & Son, London (K3/2280)
Oystermouth Castle sits on a high ridge overlooking the village of Mumbles on the west side of Swansea Bay. The keep originates dates from the early 12th century when the castle belonged to the first Earl of Warwick. It frequently changed hands until 1927 when it was given by the Dukes of Beaufort to Swansea Council. A view of Swansea Bay by Callow, dated 10th August 1861, is in the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea.
34
GPFA
[cat.32]
Thomas Lindsay (1793-1861) Kite-Flying near Margate, Kent Signed lower left: T. Lindsay and signed and inscribed verso: Coast of Kent - nr Margate/T. Lindsay 1858 Watercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour and scratching out 21.5 by 32.1 cm., 8 ½ by 12 ½ in. Provenance: Anonymous sale, Christie's, 4th February 1974, lot 7; By descent until 2018
Lindsay was born at Alnwick, Northumberland on 26th December 1792. He trained as a landscape painter in watercolour and exhibited at the New Watercolour Society from 1833, living in London and then Greenwich. In 1848 he moved to Cusop near Hay-on-Wye where he lived at Dulas Cottage. Examples of his work are in the British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Library, Wales.
35
GPFA
[cat.33]
Henry Bright (1810-1873) A Wine Shop near Calais Signed lower right: HBright and inscribed with title lower left Black chalk and stump 23.5 by 33.7 cm., 9 ¼ by 13 ¼ in. Provenance: With Agnew's, London, 2000; Private Collection until 2021 Literature: Thos. Agnew & Sons, English Watercolours, Drawings and Small Paintings, 2000, no.74, ill. Exhibited: London, Thos. Agnew & Sons, English Watercolours, Drawings and Small Paintings, 1st to 24th March 2000, no.74
Bright’s black chalk drawings typically date from the 1830s and 1840s and show the influence of James Duffield Harding.
36
GPFA
[cat.34]
Henry Bright (1810-1873) In the Grounds of Shrubland Park, Suffolk Coloured chalks on buff paper 28.2 by 24.8 cm., 11 by 9 ¾ in.
The current house at Shrubland Park, near Coddenham, Suffolk, was designed by James Paine and built in the 1770s. Sir William Middleton purchased the estate in 1788 and commissioned Humphrey Repton to suggest improvements, some of which were carried out. His son Sir William Fowle Middleton inherited the estate in 1830 and developed an elaborate series of terraced gardens,
which were further developed in an Italianate style by the architect Sir Charles Barry (1795-1860). The house descended by marriage to the Barons de Saumarez until the estate was sold in 2010. Bright exhibited ‘In Shrubland Park’ at the New Society of Painters in Water-colours in 1840, no.210.
37
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[cat.35]
Gabriele Carelli (1820-1900) Chiswick House from the North-west Inscribed lower left: Chiswick/1849 Pencil and watercolour heightened with touches of bodycolour on buff paper 26 by 36.4 cm., 10 ¼ by 14 ¼ in. Provenance: With Thos. Agnew & Sons, London
Italian born Gabriele Carelli first visited England in early 1847, employed by the 6th Duke of Devonshire as his personal painter. His father Raffaele had also found patronage under the Duke, accompanying him on tours to Sicily and then Turkey. Gabriele returned to Italy in Autumn 1847 but began to spend increasing amounts of time in England, finally settling there permanently in 1866. He specialised in architectural subjects, such as the present watercolour, as well as topographical views based on his numerous tours throughout Europe, the Near East and North Africa.
38
The present watercolour was executed during one of Carelli’s many visits to England. Chiswick House had been in the Cavendish Family, since it was inherited by William, 4th Duke of Devonshire in 1758, from his mother-in-law Lady Burlington. Chiswick House is one of the earliest and most important Neo-Palladian buildings in England. Designed and built by William Kent and the 3rd Earl of Burlington between 1725 and 1738, it was inspired by the work of Antonio Palladio and in particular his Villa Rotunda. The surrounding gardens, breaking down the rigid formality of the early 18th Century garden, in favour of a more naturalistic landscape, proved equally revolutionary and influential on the development of future landscape design.
GPFA
[cat.36]
Paul Jacob Naftel (1817-1891) The Cuillin Hills, Skye Signed lower right: Paul J Naftel Watercolour over pencil heightened with touches of bodycolour 23.7 by 49.9 cm., 9 ¼ by 19 ½ in.
Naftel was brought up on Guernsey on the Channel Islands and was self-taught as an artist. He taught at Elizabeth College, Guernsey before moving to London in 1870. He subsequently travelled extensively and made various visits to Scotland in the early 1870s.
39
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[cat.37]
Alfred Downing Fripp, RWS (1822-1895) The Interior of an Irish Cottage Watercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour 42 by 61 cm., 16 ½ by 24 in.
This is a typical early work by the Bristol-born artist whose brother was George Arthur Fripp. He exhibited a number of Irish interiors at the Society of Painters in Water-colours in the 1840s. A similar watercolour entitled ‘Interior of a Fisherman’s Cabin, Galway’, signed and dated 1845, was sold at
40
Adam’s, Dublin, on 10th January 2014, lot 69. The model of the older woman appears to the same as in Fripp’s ‘Figures before an Irish Post Office’ sold at Christie’s South Kensington on 6th December 2001, lot 81.
GPFA
[cat.38]
Erskine Nicol, The Politician
ARA
(1825-1904)
Half-length seated, reading ‘The Times' Indistinctly signed and dated 1859 lower left and inscribed with title verso Watercolour heightened with white on brown paper 19.7 by 18.1 cm., 7 ¾ by 7 in. Provenance: With Michael Bryan, London
Scottish born Nicol spent five years, between 1845 and 1850, in Ireland, having accepted a teaching post at the Department of Science and Art. His time there coincided with the Great Famine and his subject matter often reflected the life of the rural poor. Nicol was elected an Academician of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1859, the year the present watercolour was executed. He also exhibited regularly at the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, as well as at the British Institution and Royal Academy in London, to which he was elected an Associate in 1866. His work is often characterised by gentle humour, as evidenced in the present work. 41
GPFA
[cat.39]
William Wyld (1806-1889) Dresden at Sunset Signed in red lower right: WWyld Watercolour heightened with bodycolour 12 by 19 cm., 4 ¾ by 7 ½ in.
The present watercolour depicts Dresden’s celebrated skyline, silhouetted against the sunset. The bridge is the sandstone Augustusbrücke, whilst the domed building to the left of centre, is the majestic Lutheran church, the Frauenkirche, built between 1726 and 1743. It was largely destroyed during the Second World War and remained a ruin
42
for the next 50 years until work started on rebuilding the church in 1994 after the reunification of Germany. The tall spire, with open arches in the centre of the watercolour, is the Catholic Cathedral and beyond that is Dresden Castle.
GPFA
[cat.40]
Andrew Nicholl, RHA (1804-1886) Cattle grazing by a river, Windsor Castle beyond Signed lower left: A. Nicholl R.H.A. and inscribed verso: Windsor Castle from the bend of the River Watercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour and scratching out 32.5 by 51.2 cm., 12 ¾ by 20 in.
Nicholl was born in Belfast. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1827, and full member in 1860. He visited London for the first time between 1830-2. He returned to Ireland but was in London again in 1840. Six years later, he travelled to Sri Lanka, to take up a teaching position at Colombo Academy, where he stayed until 1849. He appears to have spent the rest of his life, between Belfast and London and died at his London home in Camberwell at the age of 82.
The present watercolour is characteristic of the artist, with a carefully depicted botanical subject in the foreground, combined with a sense of romance, conveyed by Windsor Castle against a dramatic skyline. The view is taken from a low viewpoint on the Eton bank of the river Thames. The extensive use of scratching out is typical of the artist and is used here to bring the foreground to life.
43
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[cat.41 a]
Andrew Nicholl, RHA (1804-1886) Study of the sea at Newcastle, Co. Down, Northern Ireland Signed lower right: A Nicholl RHA and inscribed verso: Newcastle Co Down 1844 Watercolour over traces of pencil heightened with scratching out 25 by 33.5 cm., 9 ¾ by 13 in.
Newcastle is a small town on the Northern Irish coast between the Irish sea and Slieve Donard, the tallest of the Mourne Mountains. The Belfast born artist explored and recorded the Northern Irish coast extensively and became particularly celebrated for his depictions of the region. As early as 1828, he made a series of 101 watercolour views of the Antrim coast. 44
GPFA
[cat.41 b]
Andrew Nicholl, RHA (1804-1886) View from Portballintrae, Northern Ireland, looking towards the Giant’s Causeway Inscribed verso: Portballintrae/July 1870 Watercolour over traces of pencil heightened with scratching out 24.2 by 36.1 cm., 9 ½ by 14 in.
The village of Portballintrae lies in County Antrim, in a horseshoe bay, on the Atlantic coast, about two miles west of the Giant’s Causeway, which can be seen in the distance in the present work.
45
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[cat.42]
John Henry Mole (1814-1886) A Gateway, Clovelly, Devon Signed lower left: J.H. Mole. 1884, inscribed lower right: Clovelly and inscribed on reverse of mount: At Clovelly, North Devon Watercolour over pencil heightened with touches of bodycolour 36.8 by 54.2 cm., 14 ¼ by 21 ¼ in.
Clovelly lies on the North Devon coast, near the border with Cornwall and its picturesque steep, cobbled street and dramatic position has made it popular with artists including Thomas Rowlandson, J.M.W. Turner, William Daniell and John Middleton. Temple Bar creates an arch towards the top of the road down to the harbour, through which the harbour wall of the horseshoe bay below, is framed. It was originally designed as a shelter for the donkeys that carried goods up and down the steep cobbled street of the village.
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[cat.43]
John Henry Mole (1814-1886) Mussel Gatherers Signed lower left: JH Mole/1860 Watercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour and scratching out 24.4 by 47 cm., 9 ½ by 18 ½ in. Provenance: Lascelles Hall, Huddersfield; With W. Barker & Co, Alexandra Gallery, Harrogate: Anonymous sale, Sotheby’s, 14th July 1988, lot 172, sold for £3,960; Private collection until 2021
Entirely self-taught, Mole was initially employed in a lawyer’s office in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, until at the age of 21, he decided to embark on a career as a miniaturist and began to develop his skills as a landscape watercolourist. He moved to London in 1847 and abandoned miniature painting to concentrate his efforts on watercolours. A couple of years before moving, he began to exhibit at the New Watercolour Society becoming an Associate the year he moved to London, a full member the following year and served as its President from 1884.
47
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[cat.44]
Edward Lear (1812-1888) The Temple of Gerf Hussein on the Nile, Egypt Inscribed lower left: Garf Hoseyn/2.15. PM. 1867/Feby. 15./1867 and numbered 483 lower right Pen and brown ink and watercolour over pencil heightened with touches of white on buff paper 31.2 by 54.2 cm., 12 ¼ by 21 ¼ in. Provenance: Charles Beecher Hogan (1906-1981), Woodbridge, Connecticut; Peter Spokes; Given to his sister Ann Spokes Symonds (1925-2019)
This dates from Lear’s third and final visit to Egypt in late 1866 and early 1867, when he travelled down the Nile as far as the Second Cataract which he reached on 4th February. His diary for 15th February records: ‘12.15 PM. Nearing Gerf Hoseyn, which the white mast tops or Sheikh’s tombs look like poached eggs against the sand cliffs… The temple does not look very prepossessing for drawing – the only part outside the rock, being very decayed – and & a this time of day, there was very little shadow: moreover heat was great, & the flies more intolerable than usual’ (Edward Lear Diaries, Houghton Library, Harvard University). A number of small drawings from this trip are in the Yale Center for British Art 48
including a view of Gerf Hussein, drawn at 12.30pm on the same day and numbered 480 (see Scott Wilcox, Edward Lear and the Art of Travel, 2000, p.101, no.109, ill.). The Temple of Gerf Hussein stood on the banks of the Nile about 55 miles south of Aswan. It was built by the Setau, Viceroy of Nubia, in the 1300s BC and dedicated to Ramesses II. Part of the temple was free-standing (as seen here) and part was cut into the rock. During the building of the Aswan dam in the 1960s, the free-standing part was moved to another site, with the rock temple now underwater.
GPFA
[cat.45]
William Fraser Garden (1856-1921) All Saints and the Waits, St Ives, Huntingdonshire Signed lower right: W.F. GARDEN/04 Watercolour over pencil 13.6 by 18.2 cm., 5 ¼ by 7 in. Provenance: With Spinks, London;With Chris Beetles, 2015 Exhibited: London, Chris Beetles, Summer Show, 10th June to 31st August 2015, no.23
All Saint’s Church sits on the north bank of the Ouse. A church has stood on the site of the present church from about 970 A.D. and the present building dates from the late 15th Century, when the church was entirely rebuilt. The Waits is where barges and boats once waited along the bank of the river, as well as the name of the street which runs alongside.
William Fraser Garden’s family moved to East Anglia in 1861 and the artist remained based in the area throughout his life. He exhibited regularly in London, including at the Royal Academy and the New Watercolour Society from 1880.
49
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Dr Edward Adrian Wilson (1872-1912) nos. 46-48 Dr Edward Wilson (1872-1912) is regarded as one of the most prominent figures of early Antarctic exploration. After reading Zoology at Cambridge, he then studied medicine at St George’s Hospital, London. However, shortly after qualifying, he became ill with tuberculosis, caught whist treating the poor in London’s slums. His long convalescence, part of which was spent in Davos, Switzerland (see nos. 47a and b) gave him time to hone his skills as an artist. In 1901, despite not being fully recovered Wilson was appointed Assistant Surgeon and Vertebrate Zoologist to the British National Antarctic Expedition (1901-4) led by Captain Robert Scott (1868-1912). Wilson's specific job was to deal with the birds and seals that the Expedition came across and to write the appropriate section for publication in the report of the expedition. Wilson’s easy manner made him a popular figure, whilst his clear abilities, meant that he was held in high regard by the men he worked with. He was the third member of Scott and Shackleton’s 1902 team who set out on the final push to reach the pole. Although unsuccessful, they did get the furthest south of anyone, reaching just 480 miles short of the pole. Wilson returned to the Antarctic as part of Scott’s Terra Nova expedition, 1910-12, as Chief of the Scientific Staff and was one of the team of 5 men who made up the final South Pole party. They successfully reached the pole in January 1912, but all perished on the return. When their bodies were discovered eight months later, Wilson and Bowers were found ‘in the attitude of sleep, their sleeping-bags closed over their heads as they would naturally close them.’ Wilson’s lasting legacy is the collection of drawings and watercolours that he made during his two Antarctic expeditions. They provide a fascinating record of the expeditions, as well bringing the landscape and wildlife which they encountered vividly to life. There is an added poignancy to the works given that the artist died on the ice.
50
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[cat.46]
Dr Edward Adrian Wilson (1872-1912) Mt Erebus Signed lower left: E.A. Wilson Watercolour 13.5 by 21.6 cm., 5 ¼ by 8 ½ in.
Wilson would not have been able to work in watercolours in the open air, as the paint would have frozen, instead he would make rapid pencil sketches in the field and then work from these drawings on his return to the hut in the evenings. Wilson had devised a colour memorisation technique which helped him to accurately recall colour, so that when he worked up these later watercolours, he was able to perfectly record the colours that he had seen.
Mount Erebus on Ross Island, Antarctica, is the southernmost active volcano in the world and the second tallest after Mount Sidley. It overlooks the McMurdo research station. Wilson produced numerous pencil sketches and more detailed watercolours of Mt Erebus, many of which are in the collection of the Scott Polar Research Institute. See introduction on p.50 for more information on the artist.
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[cat.47 a]
Dr Edward Adrian Wilson (1872-1912) The Flüela Pass, Davos Inscribed with title lower left and dated 1899 Pencil 18.3 by 23.5 cm., 7 by 9 ¼ in. Provenance: By descent from the artist until sold, Christie’s, 25th September 2001, lot 143 (part), where bought by the present owner
The Flüela Pass is the high mountain pass which connects Davos to the Engadin Valley. Wilson was sent to Davos to help his recovery from TB in October 1898 and remained in the Alps until the following May. Initially he was not allowed to do much, but the sanitorium relented and Wilson was able to wander and paint freely. It was whilst he was in Davos, concentrating on improving his artistic skills, that he began to sophisticate the colour memorisation technique that he had conceived 52
whilst at Cambridge. He would sketch rapidly in pencil, make colour notes and then on his return to his room, he would precisely recall the colours of a subject, whether animal or landscape. This technique was to prove invaluable on his later Antarctic expeditions. See introduction on p.50 for more information on the artist.
GPFA
[cat.47 b]
Dr Edward Adrian Wilson (1872-1912) The Village of Davos with Mount Tinzenhorn behind Inscribed lower right: Davos platz. Tinzenhorn. ‘99 Pencil 18.3 by 23.5 cm., 7 by 9 ¼ in. Provenance: By descent from the artist until sold, Christie’s, 25th September 2001, lot 143 (part), where bought by the present owner
See introduction on p.50 for more information on the artist.
53
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[cat.48]
Dr Edward Adrian Wilson (1872-1912) An Owl in a Forest Signed with initials lower left Watercolour and bodycolour 9.4 by 5.7 cm., 3 ¾ by 2 ¼ in. Provenance: By descent from the artist until sold, Christie’s, 25th September 2001, lot 143 (part), where bought by the present owner
The present lively study is very different from the careful and highly detailed zoological studies that Wilson executed when he was recording his studies. Instead, this work is intended to capture the atmosphere of the subject, as well as give an impression of its surroundings and consequently is characterised by a rapidity and spontaneity of handling. See introduction on p.50 for more information on the artist. 54
GPFA
[cat.49 a] above top
[cat.49 b] above
Archibald Thorburn, RA (1860-1935) Studies of the Heads of a Marsh Harrier, Hen Harrier and a Montagu’s Harrier
Archibald Thorburn, RA (1860-1935) Studies of a Greater Spotted Woodpecker
With the artist’s studio stamp lower right Watercolour and bodycolour over pencil 18.3 by 29.1 cm., 7 ¼ by 11 ½ in.
Thorburn was born in Scotland, the son of Robert Thorburn (1818-1885), portrait miniaturist to Queen Victoria. He moved to London to study art and in 1887 was commissioned by the artist Joseph Wolf to illustrate lord Lilford’s Coloured Figures of the
With the artist’s studio stamp lower right Watercolour and bodycolour over pencil 18.3 by 29.1 cm., 7 ¼ by 11 ½ in.
Birds of the British Isles, for which he painted 268 watercolours. He soon became the most sought after wildlife artist of the period exhibiting extensively at the Royal Academy and producing illustrations for many books. 55
GPFA
[cat.50 a]
Charles Frederick Tunnicliffe, Red Viennese Tumblers
RA
(1901-1979)
Inscribed lower centre: Red Viennese Tumblers. April 1959/from H. Pyrzakowksi. for T. Forshaw and further inscribed centre left: Often stands with/wings lower than tail. Watercolour and pencil heightened with bodycolour on laid paper 22.7 by 27.7 cm., 8 ¾ by 10 ¾ in.
56
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[cat.50 b]
Charles Frederick Tunnicliffe, RA (1901-1979) A Pair of Double-crested German Trumpeters Inscribed lower left: Double crested German Trumpeter/Red (front) & Yellow. T. Forshaw (from the ...) Watercolour and pencil heightened with bodycolour 26.6 by 26.2 cm., 10 ½ by 10 ¼ in.
Tunnicliffe is probably the best known bird artist of the second half of the twentieth century. In 1947 he moved to Malltraeth on Anglesey and met Thomas Forshaw an avid ornithologist and pigeon fancier who commissioned Tunnicliffe to record all
the pigeons in his collection, as well as examples from elsewhere. The drawings were never published but Tunnicliffe filled three folios with the sketches, two of which are now in the Tunnicliffe Museum, Anglesey. 57
58
HARRY MOORE-GWYN BRITISH ART
Guy Kortright (1876-1948)
Dubrovnik [cat.63] 59
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[cat.51]
William Frederick Austin (1833-1899) The city of Norwich from the River Wensum Watercolour, 38 by 30 cm (15 by 12 ins)
This fine panorama of Norwich is taken from the southwest of the city looking across the River Wensum. Prominent in the foreground are the 14thcentury Cow Tower (on the right) and Bishop Bridge (on the left). The centre of the composition is dominated by the huge tower of Norwich Cathedral with Norwich Castle beyond. Within the
60
distant cityscape are a few of the towers of the incredible fifty or so churches that existed within the city’s walls. A near-identical version of the same watercolour with the Maas Gallery in July 2019 is dated by the artist to 1846. Austin was as an architectural draughtsman based in Norwich who is known for his scenes of the area.
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[cat.52]
George Heming Mason, ARA (1818-1872) Study of a Roman Peasant Presented in a period hand-carved gilt wood frame Oil on panel, 25 by 14.5 cm (9 ¾ by 5 ¾ ins)
Mason left England for Rome in 1843 with little artistic training and established a reputation for his poetic and idyllic evocations of the Roman Campagna. The present work, a study for one such composition, is probably dateable to the late 1840s or early 1850s. A typical painting from this period, Italian Landscape, is in the collection of the Tate (acc.no.2970). Mason was a close friend and admirer of Frederic, Lord Leighton and is strongly associated with the Etruscan School of artists, although the movement itself was not formed until sometime after Mason's death. 61
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[cat.53]
William Mulready, (1786-1863) Studies of Hands A number of similar studies of hands by Mulready from the 1850s and the 1860s were in the Oppé Collection and are now in the Tate Gallery (see acc.nos.9105, 9106 and 9107). These drawings were executed on a similarly miniature scale with intense shading in sepia ink.
RA
With a section of a text by the artist on art (verso) Dated l.l.: June 22/1850 Pen and sepia ink, 5 by 9 cm (2 by 3 ½ ins)
[cat.54]
Sir John Everett Millais, Bt, PRA (1829-1896) Study of the Cast of a Hand Millais was one of the most remarkable artist child prodigies of the nineteenth century, entering Henry Sass’s Academy in Bloomsbury in 1838 at the age of only nine. In 1840 he became the youngest ever student to enter the Royal Academy Schools at the age of eleven. As part of his training, the young Millais was required to execute study drawings from casts and sculptures after the Antique. The present work is one such example, similar examples being held by the collections of the Royal Academy Schools and the British Museum. 62
Signed (verso): John Everett Millais and with later inscription J.E.Millais/bought at Christie’s 1967 Soft pencil, 33 by 43.5 cm (13 by 17 ins) Provenance: Esme Prowse (the artist’s granddaughter) her sale Christie’s, London, 14 November, 1967; Raoul Millais
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[cat.55]
Sir William Blake Richmond, RA (1842-1921) Study for the Right Hand of King Solomon for the St Paul’s Mosaics Inscribed u.r.: ? Right Hand of King Solomon Black wash heightened with white on light brown paper, 41 by 65 cm (16 by 25 ½ ins) Provenance: from a collection of the artist’s works with Julian Hartnoll
The present work is a study for the right hand of the figure of King Solomon from the monumental series of mosaics designed by Blake Richmond for St Paul’s Cathedral in London from the mid-1890s to early 1900s. The finished mosaic of King Solomon is located above the Quire in the cathedral. 63
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[cat.56]
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones The Dream of King Pharoah
Bt., ARA, RWS
(1833-1898)
Inscribed with title u.l.: King Pharaoh's Dream Pencil with black and white chalk on light brown paper, 12 by 16 cm (4 ¾ by 6 ¼ ins) Provenance: The Drawing Shop, New York; with Robert Holden in 1993
This is a proposed illustration for J.W.McKail's project Biblia Innocentium which was published by the Kelmscott Press in 1892. McKail was BurneJones's son-in-law and the artist had intended to produce some 200 illustrations for the work but they were never completed and the book was published without them. Some were later reproduced as woodcuts by Robert Catterson-Smith in 1902.
64
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[cat.57]
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones Bt., ARA, RWS (1833-1898) Child on a Seesaw balanced against a weight of 400 Ibs Pencil, 19 by 25 cm (7 ½ by 9 ¾ ins) Provenance: Maria Zambaco; The El-Helou Collection; Christopher Wood Gallery until 2009
Burne-Jones’s caricatures were executed throughout his career often for the amusement of children, as well as (in the words of the artist’s widow, Lady Burne-Jones) “really for the child that was in himself ”. The background landscape bears some similarity to the Thames near Kelmscott (the site of William Morris’s celebrated manor house) the church spire not unlike that of St Lawrence Church in nearby Lechlade. The drawing was formerly in the collection of Maria Zambaco, with whom Burne-Jones had embarked on a passionate affair in the late 1860s. This drawing has been dated to circa 1870. 65
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[cat.58]
Arnold Wathen Robinson (1888-1955) An Embracing Angel Soft pencil, 68 by 42 cm (26 ¾ by 16 ½ ins) Provenance: Campbell Wilson Fine Art
Robinson was a leading stained glass artist and a prominent figure on the Bristol art scene in the early years of the twentieth century. He is closely associated with the stained glass firm Joseph Bell & Co, becoming first a director then owner of the business. His work is very much in the spirit of the late nineteenth century Arts and Crafts Movement showing the influence of designers like William Morris and (particularly in the case of this impressive and fluid drawing) the work of Edward Burne-Jones.
66
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[cat.59]
Henry Tonks (1862-1937) The Dream Signed and dated l.l.: H.T./Jan 1885 Wash and ink over pen and ink, 21.5 by 19.5 cm (8 ½ by 11 ½ ins) Provenance: Myles Tonks, the artist's nephew
This rare early work by the influential Slade professor Henry Tonks was executed whilst the artist was still at medical school in Brighton. He would go on to study art at Westminster School of Art under Frederick Brown from 1888. Its style and influences are a world away from the rigorous Edwardian style associated with Tonks and his pupils after 1900, owing more to the work of the great Victorian illustrators, particularly Richard Doyle who had died a couple of years earlier. 67
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[cat.60]
Edward Stott, ARA (1859-1918) Evening Scene with a Couple by a Cottage Signed with initials l.l.: ES Coloured chalks over pencil on light brown paper, 14 by 13.8 cm (9 ½ by 5 ¼ ins)
Like George Clausen (see cat.61) Stott undertook part of his artistic training in Paris and both artists were significantly influenced by French realist art and painters like Jules Bastien-Lepage, JeanBaptiste-Camille Corot and Jean-François Millet. He earned a particular reputation for evening 68
scenes of which this intense pastel is a typical example. His work proved particularly popular with the Edwardian public, earning Stott the sobriquet “poet-painter of the twilight” in 1908, two years after his election as an associate of the Royal Academy in 1906.
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[cat.61]
Sir George Clausen, RA, RWS (1852-1944) Cloudburst over the Downs Signed l.r.: G.Clausen Watercolour, 24 by 33 cm (9 1/2 by 13 ins) Provenance: Sir John Stirling Maxwell Bt.
Clausen wrote in 1930: “I think there is nothing so beautiful as a clean tint in watercolour that is exactly right...the quality of the colour has something of the spontaneity and effortless rightness that one finds in nature itself - a quality that is always lost by labouring and stippling a
drawing.” (quoted in Kenneth McKonkey, Sir George Clausen RA, RWS, 1852-1944, exhibition catalogue, Bradford Art Gallery, 1980, p.97). Most of Clausen’s landscape watercolours, often studies in nature like the present work, date from the second half of the artist’s career. 69
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[cat.62]
Bernard Sleigh, RBSA (1872-1954) A Narrow Street in Whitby, North Yorkshire Inscribed (verso): Whitby Coloured chalks on buff paper, 36.5 by 16 cm (14 ¼ by 6 ¼ ins)
Sleigh was a diversely talented painter, stained glass maker, muralist and printmaker. A prominent figure in the Birmingham School of art in the mid-1920s, his early work is influenced by William Morris and the late Pre Raphaelites and it always retains a strongly decorative quality and sense of design. The present work may have been executed in 1927 on a trip to Whitby in which he executed a wood engraving, Whitby Harbour, a copy of the which is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum (acc.E.1889-1927). 70
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[cat.63]
Guy Kortright (1876-1948) Dubrovnik Signed l.r.: Guy Kortright Gouache with watercolour, 34 by 42 cm (13 ¼ by 16 ½ ins)
Kortright developed his own distinctive and highly attractive style of decorative landscape painting, in part informed by his extensive travels in Continental Europe and also from his time living in the artists’ colony at St Ives in Cornwall. It was there that he lived with the painter Norman
Wilkinson and both painters went on to work as commercial artists and poster designers. Kortright put his artistic philosophy in writing in a series of articles with the title Decorative Landscape Painting which were published in the periodical The Artist in 1934 and 1935. 71
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[cat.64]
These two Sickert drawings serve as snapshots of performances in the Gaîté Rochechouart, a Parisian music hall in the Boulevard of the same name that opened in 1867, eventually being destroyed by a fire in the early 1920s. The Music Hall attracted a number of important artists including Toulouse Lautrec and George Seurat, the latter of whom made an atmospheric drawing of a performance there in the late 1880s. Sickert made these drawings of the music hall in the very early 1900s, almost certainly on the spot as studies for larger works. In common with drawings he made of other theatrical venues he chose dark brown paper as his medium, a factor that is central in conveying the gloominess of their interiors and (in some cases) the essential seediness and edginess of the shows that were performed there. 72
Walter Sickert, RA (1860-1942) A Singer and Artiste at the Gaîté Rochechouart Signed l.r.: Sickert and inscribed l.l. Gaite Rochechouard (sic) Black and white chalk with ink on brown paper, 29 by 23 cm (11 ½ by 9 ins) Provenance: Christie's, 10 November, 1989, lot 209 Literature: Wendy Baron, Sickert: Paintings & Drawings, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2006, p.336, cat no.290.2
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[cat.65] top
Walter Sickert, RA (1860-1942) Musicians at the Gaîté Rochechouart Signed l.r. Sickert and inscribed with title Gaîté Rouchechouard (sic) Black and white chalk over pen and ink on brown paper, 20.5 by 28.5 cm (8 by 11 ¼ ins)
Above: the Gaîté Rochechouart in circa 1890
The present work is related to the painting Les Loges (see Wendy Baron, Sickert Paintings and Drawings, Yale, 2006, p.335, no.288). That work depicts the audience behind the same conductor, this lively study of one of the pit's violinists and singer suggesting a possible extension to that composition. 73
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[cat.66]
Gwen John (1876-1939) Study for "Girl in Pink Praying" Stamped with the artist's signature l.l.: Gwen John Pencil, 16.5 by 12.5 cm (6 ½ by 5 ins) Provenance: with Anthony D'Offay in 1979 Exhibited: London, Anthony D'Offay, Gwen John, July-August 1982, no.63
74
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[cat.67]
Augustus John, (1878-1961) Euphemia Lamb Standing, 1907
OM, RA
Signed l.r.: John Pencil, 33 by 15 cm (13 by 6 ins) Provenance: The Piccadilly Gallery, London Exhibited: Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea, Passionate Visions: Gwen John and Augustus John, 1991, no.30
Euphemia Lamb was one of the more intriguing figures that existed within the Bohemian circle of Augustus John in the first decade of the twentieth century. Born in Lancashire she married the painter Henry Lamb in 1906, not divorcing him until 1929 even though in reality the marriage was relatively shortlived. As an artist’s model she regularly sat for John, who became very close to her at around the same time as Henry Lamb developed an affection for John’s muse Dorelia. She was also closely associated with other artists including Jacob Epstein, James Dickson Innes and the occultist Aleister Crowley. 75
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[cat.68]
Mark Gertler (1891-1939) Study of a Female Nude Signed with initials l.r.: MG With a further drawing of a female nude in pencil (verso) Red chalk, 28 by 20 cm (11 by 8 ins) Provenance: with the Bloomsbury Workshop
These female nudes (see also cat.69) show the contrasting styles of two of the preeminent figurative draughtsman in early twentieth century British art. Gertler, a product of his training under the watchful eye of the famous Slade professor Henry Tonks, demonstrates the freer style he developed later in his (sadly short) artistic career. This contrasts with the astonishing tightness and control of Gill’s nude – a masterclass in conveying form through subtlety of shading, a style which very much anticipates his carved relief work in stone. 76
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[cat.69]
Eric Gill, ARA (1882-1940) Female Nude Signed and dated l.r.: Eric G./28.8.3’ Pencil, 34.5 by 25 cm (13 ½ by 9 ¾ ins) Provenance: the Wyndham T.Vint Collection, Bradford 77
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[cat.70]
Sir Stanley Spencer, RA (1891-1959) Portrait of a Young Girl Signed and dated l.r.: Stanley Spencer/July 1957 Pencil, 49 by 27.5 cm (19 ¼ by 10 ¾ ins)
The sitter in this drawing is Clare George, the daughter of Joan George who was a great supporter of the artist later in his career and one of the founders of the Stanley Spencer Museum in Cookham in 1962. Joan first befriended Spencer following an article she wrote on the artist for the Yorkshire Post. She subsequently wrote a book on their friendship, Stanley Spencer Remembered. Spencer’s unfinished portrait of Joan George from 1958 is in the collection of The Stanley Spencer Museum in Cookham. 78
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[cat.71]
Eric Kennington, RA (1888-1960) A Seated Infantryman Signed with monogram and dated l.r.: E.H.K./1918 Charcoal on blue paper, 75 by 54.5 cm (29 ½ by 21 ½ ins)
No artist’s work is more closely associated with the individual British soldier in the First World War than that by Eric Kennington. Kennington himself fought on the Western Front before injury forced him out in 1915. His group portrait The Kensingtons at Laventie depicts his own regiment and was completed during his convalescence. It is arguably
Kennington’s masterpiece, perfectly conveying the endurance of the rank and file soldier on the front line. He returned to the Western Front as an official War Artist completing many drawings for his exhibition The British Soldier which was held in London in the Summer of 1918. This impressive large scale drawing may relate to that project. 79
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[cat.72]
Sir William Rothenstein (1872-1945) Bombed Buildings at Fresnes, 1918 Signed, inscribed and dated l.l.: W.Rothenstein/Fresnes/Feb 1918 and with later dedication (l.r.) Watercolour, gouache and coloured chalks over pencil, 36 by 51 cm (14 by 20 ins) Provenance: a gift to a previous owner from the artist’s son, John Rothenstein
Most of Rothenstein’s sparse but hauntingly beautiful drawings of the Western Front date from the winter of 1917-18. He recalled it as one of his most inspired times as an artist, finding in the destruction a peculiar sense of the picturesque: “Had I asked myself, would I rather there had been
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no war, and consequently no such strange livid beauty, I should have been at a loss to answer …I never valued life more highly than during the weeks spent in making these records.” (William Rothenstein, Men and Memories, 1872-1938, vol.II, Macmillan, 1940)
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[cat.73]
Ernest Procter, ARA (1886 - 1935) Sleeping Quarters of the French Civilian Evacuation Section, Oxelaëre, 1917 Signed l.r.: Ernest Procter Watercolour and gouache over pencil, 25.5 by 20 cm (10 by 8 ins)
Oxelaëre is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Procter served as a member and official artist for the Friend's Ambulance Unit in Dunkirk from 1916-17 executing numerous fine drawings chronicling his intense personal experiences working there. The Imperial War Museum holds a number of drawings and a sketchbook by the artist from this period. In 1918 he was appointed Official War Artist for the Ministry of Information. 81
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[cat.74]
Robert Arthur Wilson (1884-1979) Inhumanity, 1917 Signed l.r.: R.A.Wilson/1917 Watercolour, 22 by 25.5 cm (8 ¼ by 10 ins)
Wilson won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art before continuing his training in Paris at the Académie Julien just before the outbreak of the First World War. Here he met a number of fellow British artists in France, amongst them Edward Wadsworth, C.R.W.Nevinson and William Roberts, painters with whom he had much in common. Like Nevinson in particular his work assimilates the influence of the Italian Futurists but with a particular focus on colour, a fact observed by fellow 82
painter James Wood in an introduction to Wilson’s 1922 show: “Wilson deals in colours at their fullest saturation, and his pictures are therefore exceedingly forcible and self-assertive” R.A. Wilson: Exhibition of Paintings and Colour Studies, Guild of Decorators’ Syndicate, London, May 1922. These are qualities that Wilson brings to this uncompromising watercolour – a clearly heartfelt protest at the events of the First World War.
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[cat.75]
Robert Arthur Wilson (1884-1979) The Ascent Signed l.r.: R.A.Wilson/1919 Watercolour, 25.5 by 22 cm (10 by 8 ¼ ins)
An example of Wilson’s work at its most exuberantly decorative showing the influence of graphic and commercial art, including stained glass window and book endpaper design.
83
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[cat.76]
Olga Lehmann (1912-2001) Kew Gardens Design for a Poster for London Underground Watercolour and gouache, 41 by 29 cm (16 by 11 ½ ins)
Lehmann had a prolific and hugely successful career as an illustrator, designer for film and television, muralist and portrait painter. This rare early design for London Transport (rare as much of Lehmann’s early work was destroyed in a fire) probably dates from her time as a student at the Slade School of Art, where she won prizes for portraiture, theatrical design and life painting. It is not known whether this design relates to a finished composition but it is strongly modernist in style, assimilating the influence of the Vorticists and painters such as Wyndham Lewis, Bomberg and William Roberts. 84
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[cat.77]
William Roberts, RA (1895-1980) The Wood Gatherer Watercolour over pencil, 55 by 37 cm (21 ¾ by 14 ½ ins) Provenance: purchased from the artist in 1948; Sotheby's, Olympia, 10 September 2003 Literature: David Cleall and Bob Davenport, An English Cubist: William Roberts (1895-1980), online catalogue raisonné (illustrated in alphabetical and chronological lists)
The present work is dated in the Roberts online catalogue (op cit) to 1944 and is one of a group of monumental portrait watercolours of individual figures that the artist did at this date. The existence of a small study for the present work (Sotheby's (23 November 2006)) confirms this watercolour as a finished composition in its own right, not related to one of Roberts multiple figure groups. That study was exhibited in the Roberts retrospective at Worthing Art Gallery in 1972. 85
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[cat.78]
Alfred Kingsley Lawrence, The Forum, Rome
RA, RP
(1893-1975)
Gouache and watercolour, 35 by 51 cm (13 ¾ by 20 ins) Provenance: the artist’s studio
Lawrence was the winner of the Prix de Rome in 1923, following on from Winifred Knights in 1920 and Thomas Monnington in 1922. The scholarship awarded each painter a prolonged period studying at the British School in Rome where they were encouraged to draw inspiration from Renaissance art and the city’s major archeological sites. This view of the Forum was one of a number of plein-air studies of Ancient Rome that Lawrence undertook in the course of his studies there.
86
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[cat.79]
Ethelbert White, Siena
RWS
(1893-1972)
With the artist’s studio stamp (verso) and numbered 72 Coloured chalks, 17.5 by 22 cm (6 ¾ by 8 ½ ins) Provenance: the artist’s studio
This drawing probably dates from one of a number of trips that White made to Italy in the mid-1920s. His beautifully detailed pencil, chalk and watercolour drawings often relate to his work in woodcut even though there is currently no recorded print of Siena by the artist from the period.
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[cat.80]
Duncan Grant (1885-1978) Paul Roche Reclining Grey wash over chalk and pencil, 56 by 76 cm (22 by 30 ins) Provenance: Paul Roche; direct from the previous owner to a private American collection
Paul Roche was one of the most significant figures from the latter part of Duncan Grant’s life – a close friend and companion, he travelled widely with him, later writing a book on Grant and dedicating significant energy towards furthering the artist’s reputation following his death in 1978. He was also one of the artist’s most significant muses and models and he sat for Grant on numerous occasions from the late 1940s. These beautifully fluid nude studies were possibly painted in the same sitting and depict Roche in variations of the same reclining pose. They are also intriguingly contrasting through the effect of their relative mediums – showing the artist’s talents in both monochrome watercolour and chalk. They probably date from circa 1950. 88
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[cat.81]
Duncan Grant (1885-1978) Paul Roche Reclining Signed with monogram and dated l.r.: DG/49 Red chalk, 56 by 76 cm (22 by 30 ins) Provenance: Paul Roche; direct from the previous owner to a private American collection
89
HM-G
[cat.82]
Duncan Grant (1885-1978) Two Figures on a Beach, Morocco Signed with monogram l.r.: DG Watercolour, 29.5 by 27 cm (11 ½ by 10 ½ ins) Provenance: Louise and Vincent Kosman, Edinburgh
This watercolour was painted on one of a number of trips that Grant made to Morocco from the mid1960s onwards. He first visited the country in 1965 returning in 1968 where he took a studio in Fez for
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two months. In 1975 he travelled there with Paul Roche staying in Tangiers in the house of Rex Nan Kivell. This beach scene probably dates from one of the earlier 1960s trips there.
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[cat.83]
Duncan Grant (1885-1978) Vanessa Bell Reading Blue Biro, 22.5 by 17.5 cm (9 by 7 ins) Sold with a signed letter of provenance from Martin Roche dated 26th January 2017 Provenance: Duncan Grant; the collection of Paul Roche by descent to his son, Martin Roche
Grant met Vanessa Bell in 1905 and the two artists’ close association lasted for the rest of Bell’s life. As well as having a child together (Angelica), they lived at Charleston in Sussex and their graves are placed side by side in the nearby church at Firle. Paintings and studies by Grant of Bell appear throughout the artists’ lives and many of the later Studies and sketches (as with this drawing) were executed at Charleston. They were frequently turned into
finished compositions, including works such as The Sofa (1944) (now in the collection of the Royal Pavilion and Museums Trust, Brighton & Hove (acc.FA000120)). A similar sketchbook drawing in biro was in the Patricia and Donald Oresman collection (their sale, Doyle Auctioneers, New York (20 November, 2018, lot 176)). That drawing is dated there to 1955.
91
HM-G
[cat.84]
Thomas Hennell, RWS (1903-1945) A Cotswold Landscape Signed l.l.: Thomas Hennell Watercolour over pencil, 38 by 46 cm (15 by 18 ins) Provenance: with Blond Fine Art in 1984
This view possibly depicts a landscape near Winchcombe in Gloucestershire, one of the highest and most dramatic parts of the Cotswolds. Hennell visited this area in 1943 as part of the work he executed for Kenneth Clark’s Recording Britain project for the Pilgrim Trust (although the present watercolour may date from an earlier trip) and he 92
painted the watercolour Tithe House, Greet Manor Farm, Winchcomb for the scheme (now in the Victoria and Albert Museum). This would be one of the last works he painted in England before leaving to work as an official War Artist in South East Asia and where he died in 1945.
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[cat.85]
Stanley Roy Badmin, RWS (1906-1989) The Breidden Hills from the River Vrynwy near Melverely, Shropshire Signed l.l.: S.R.Badmin and inscribed the river Vrynwy near Melverely, Shropshire Watercolour, 20 by 33.5 cm (8 by 13 ¼ ins) Exhibited: Royal Watercolour Society, London, Autumn Exhibition, 1963
This view shows a section of the River Vrnwy, a tributary of the River Severn which runs along the Welsh border through Shropshire and Northern Powys. The last eight miles actually mark the Welsh/English border, the section depicted being
near the Shropshire village of Melverley where it meets the Severn. In the distance is an extinct volcanic mound known as Breidden Hill which rises to 1200 feet and is a notable viewpoint for looking over both Shropshire and Northern Wales.
93
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[cat.86]
Anthony Gross, RA (1905-1984) Cannon Street looking towards St Paul's Cathedral, 1939 Signed and dated l.l.: Anthony Gross/39 and inscribed with title l.r. Cannon Street/City Gouache on board, 38 by 54.5 cm (15 by 21 ½ ins)
Gross was an extremely active artist in the Second World War, having received his first commission following a recommendation by Eric Kennington in March 1940. He was appointed an official salaried artist by the War Artists’ Advisory Committee in June of the same year. His work took him from London during the Blitz where he painted records of defences, bomb damage and the London Underground, before travelling to the Middle East and later Burma. This rare earlier work appears to depict the initial Wartime defences in London during the so-called Phoney War at the end of 1939.
94
HM-G
[cat.87]
Arthur Middleton Todd, Seated Female Nude
RA, RWS
(1891-1966)
Signed with monogram l.l.: ARMT Coloured chalks with pastel, 38 by 28 cm (15 by 11 ins) Exhibited: Fosse Gallery, Stow-on-the-Wold, A.R.Middleton Todd exhibition, 1985, no.35 (illustrated on p.14)
95
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[cat.88]
Paul Nash (1889-1946) Winter Landscape, Cleeve Hill, Gloucestershire Signed with monogram l.r.: PN and with indistinct inscription l.l. ??/ a late Christmas Card Watercolour over pencil, 19 by 25 cm (7 ½ by 9 ¾ ins) Provenance: with Blond Fine Art in 1980, where sold to Mrs W.B.Morrell Literature: Andrew Causey, Paul Nash, Clarendon Press, 1980, see under no.1197, p.467
These two Nash watercolours (see also cat no.89) were both painted near Cleeve Hill in Gloucestershire – at a point where the Cotswold Hills dramatically stop, falling to reveal remarkably expansive landscapes across the plains towards Wales. The extraordinary skies, with their intense colours and abstract forms provided a primary inspiration for some of his great late landscape works. The winter subject of this first work probably suggests a date of early January 1945 (also tying this in with the dedication of the watercolour
96
as a “late Christmas card”). Nash made a series of watercolours of Cleeve Hill in 1944 and 1945, mentioning “fifteen of different sizes” in a letter to his Oxford neighbour, Lady Agnew. The view is taken from the Rising Sun Hotel at Cleeve, the dry stone wall to the foreground of the picture also appearing in similar Nash watercolours of the subject (see Causey (ibid) no.1197 (plate 557) as well as in several black and white photographs taken by Nash of Cleeve Hill, prints of which are now in the Tate.
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[cat.89]
Paul Nash (1889-1946) Sunset Eye, Study 5 Signed l.l.: Paul Nash and titled (verso) Sunset Eye/Study 5 Watercolour, 29 by 40 cm. (11 ½ by 15 ¾ ins) Provenance: With Arthur Tooth & Sons, London; Miss Ruth Clark, 1945; Margot Eates and Hartley Ramsden Sale; Sotheby's, London, 20 November 1991, lot 155; Jeff Horwood, thence by family descent; Private Collection, U.K. Exhibited: Oxford, Oxford Arts Club, Watercolours and Drawings by Paul Nash, February 1949, cat.no.29; London, Leicester Galleries, Paul Nash: A Private Collection of Watercolours and Drawings, May 1953, cat.no.20 Literature: Anthony Bertram, Paul Nash, The Portrait of an Artist, Faber and Faber, London, 1955, p.298; Margot Eates, Paul Nash, John Murray, London, 1973, p.87, p.137, pl.136 (col.ill); Andrew Causey, Paul Nash, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1980, p.325, p.474, pl.394, cat.no.1260 (ill.b&w)
The present work was formerly in the collection of Margot Eates, one of the foremost scholars of Paul Nash’s work. She has written of his two great final watercolour series, of which one, Sunset Eye, this watercolour forms part of: “In the Winter of 1945-46 he suddenly burst into the sunset glow of his two last great watercolour series…and the next few months were dedicated to transcribing his vision of the glowing, dying
splendour… all possess a vastness of conception far transcending the narrow limits of the small sheets on which they are drawn… they possess an inner significance expressive of an acceptance of the natural sequence of dawn and dusk, rising and setting, life and death, which disassociates them from mere academic representationalism.” (Margot Eates (op cit) p.87)
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[cat.90]
John Nash, RA (1893-1977) Sand Dunes on a South Welsh Beach Signed l.r.: John Nash Watercolour, 34 by 50 cm (13 ¼ by 19 ¾ ins) Provenance: Mrs Crawhall Ellis; with the Fine Art Society in July 1977 Exhibited: The Goupil Gallery, London, John Nash, 1939, no.34
This watercolour forms part of an important group of coastal landscapes that Nash painted of the Gower Peninsular in South Wales in the Summer of 1938 on the first of what would be eight trips to the region. Although the exact subject has not been identified it is closely comparable to the watercolours The Beach, Llangennith (Victoria and Albert Museum (acc.circ.18-1940)) and Rock and Sand Dunes, Oxwith Bay (Tate Gallery (acc.5206)). These were the first watercolours in which Nash directly tackled the subject of the shoreline, one 98
which had occupied the imagination of his brother Paul for many years. The resulting Goupil Gallery exhibition in March 1939 was a great critical success, E.N.Wright noting in The Studio: Nash’s “capacity to breathe life into the subjects he depicts. So much landscape painting today is neither alive at all or only half alive that one feels bound to insist on the vitality of Nash’s work.” (The Studio, vol.CXVII, May 1939, pp.204-06 (quoted in Andy Friend, John Nash – The Landscape of Love and Solice, Thames & Hudson, 2020, p.209)).
HM-G
[cat.91]
John Nash, RA (1893-1977) Peak District Valley at Edale, Derbyshire Signed l.r.: John Nash Watercolour, 34 by 50 cm (13 ¼ by 19 ½ ins) Provenance: The Phoenix Gallery, Lavenham
Derbyshire was one of several significant locations (others included the Isle of Skye, Wales and Cornwall) where John Nash found a contrasting inspiration from the flatter, marshier landscape of his native Suffolk. Such places, destinations for prolonged, focused painting trips honed his skills as an acute observer of the geology of these regions as well as (in the present case) the abstract forms traceable in the contours of the hills and uneven lay of the land.
99
HM-G
[cat.92]
Kenneth Rowntree (1915-1997) The Abbey Ruins at Tilty, Essex Signed and dated l.l.: Kenneth Rowntree/42 and inscribed verso: The Abbey Ruins, Titly – 12 gns and further inscribed (crossed out) Tilty – the ruins – Tilty Abbey & the site of. The monastic fish ponds are in the foreground Watercolour over pencil, 51 by 35 cm (20 by 13 ¾ ins) Provenance: with J.Leger & Sons, London, February 1944 Exhibited: London, British Institute of Adult Education, English Watercolours, 1944
Recording Britain, the brainchild of Kenneth Clark was an ambitious project set up in the early 1940s – a Home Front Wartime art initiative intended to record the English landscape and aspects of vernacular architecture and culture at a time of imminent change and even possible destruction. Rowntree was one of the most prolific contributors to the scheme, creating watercolours of Essex (where he was living at the time), as well as Wales,
100
Yorkshire and Derbyshire. He painted a number of views of the church and abbey ruins at Tilty for Recording Britain at the same date as the present work, of which one, View of the Ruins of the Cloister, the Belfry of St. Mary's Church, and the Vicarage, Tilty (now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (acc.E.1418-1949)), shows the same ruins but taken from the right hand side looking in towards the village of Tilty itself.
HM-G
[cat.93]
Kenneth Rowntree (1915-1997) The Old Railway Station at Thaxted, Essex Signed l.l.: Kenneth Rowntree Watercolour over pencil, 51 by 35 cm (20 by 13 ¾ ins)
Rowntree moved to Essex in 1941 at the suggestion of his friend Eric Ravilious. Much of his work from this decade is strongly influenced by Ravilious, whilst always also succeeding in being unmistakably “Rowntree” in style. Thaxted is a few miles from Great Bardfield, the artist’s home from 1941 to 1943. He subsequently moved to Lindsell a few miles to the south, before moving to London to take a teaching position at the Royal College of Art at the end of the decade.
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HM-G
[cat.94]
John Minton (1917-1957) Portrait of Ricky Stride Pen and sepia ink, 38 by 27 cm (15 by 10 ½ ins)
Minton met Ricky Stride, a body builder who had recently left the Navy, in the winter of 1949-50. He became Minton’s partner in the early 1950s and was the sitter in numerous portrait drawings and sketches, many of which hint at Stride’s physique, good looks and blond hair, the latter of which earned him the nickname “golden boy”. 102
HM-G
[cat.95]
John Minton (1917-1957) Portrait of a Man Pen and sepia ink, 38 by 27 cm (15 by 10 ¾ ins)
Minton’s male portraits, and in particular his drawings, are arguably amongst the artist’s strongest works. Almost always sketched in the studio and often with his subject seated on the artist’s Windsor chair, they are characterised by a strength of line that has occasioned comparison with the earlier work of Lucian Freud. In the early 1950s Minton was briefly one of the country’s most celebrated figurative artists, for a time even eclipsing the reputation of Freud and Francis Bacon. 103
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[cat.96]
Sir Cecil Beaton (1904-1980) “Herald” for “Les Illuminations”, 1950 Signed l.r.: Beaton Watercolour over ink, 39.5 by 27 cm (15 ½ by 10 ½ ins) Exhibited: Susan Sheehan Gallery, New York, Andy Warhol and Cecil Beaton Design and Draughtsmanship, March-May 2000 (no.3)
The present work is an original design for Frederick Ashton's ballet Illuminations, produced for New York City Ballet in 1950 with music by Benjamin Britten from his song cycle Les Illuminations. John Piper wrote to Beaton describing as the latter's designs for the ballet as "amongst the finest I have seen on the modern stage...". 104
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[cat.97]
Keith Vaughan (1912-1977) Landscape Study Gouache and chalk, 25 by 32 cm (9 ¾ by 12 ½ ins) Provenance: acquired by John Constable from Agnew's Exhibited: Agnew's (Stock No. CM7142), Peter Cotterill, John Constable (Jan 2014)
105
HM-G
[cat.98]
Reginald Brill (1902-1974) Seated Woman Knitting Grey wash over pen with brush and ink, 58.5 by 43 cm (23 by 16 ¾ ins) Literature: Judith Bumpus, Reginald Brill, Ashgate, 1999, illus. plate 128
Bumpus (op cit) dates the present drawing to 1960. It is typical of the bold single-figure monochrome drawings based on everyday subjects which occupied Brill’s imagination for much of the second half of his career. 106
HM-G
[cat.99]
Edward Burra (1905-1976) Study for “The Nitpickers”, c.1932 Signed in pencil l.r.: E.J.Burra Pen and ink, 32 by 20 cm (12 ½ by 8 ins) Provenance: Sotheby's, London, Works from the Estate of Edward Burra, 3 July 2002, lot 210
Typically reflective of Burra's interest in outsiders and those on the margins of society, the present study appears to relate to Burra's watercolour The Nitpickers from 1932 (sold Christie's, London, 19 June 2018, lot 20). The scene is described in a letter from Burra's friend Barbara Key-Seymer recalling a trip to the red light district in Marseilles: ‘Ed and I went up to the red light district in Marseilles where the elderly (to us) tarts sat on wooden chairs outside their bedrooms which opened onto the street concealed by bead curtains. We were going to photograph them, but one of them saw us and rushed after us calling out in French, ‘You’ll have to pay for that’, but Ed and I flew down a side street and escaped’ (B. Ker-Seymer to A. Stephenson, 30 May 1984, quoted in A. Stephenson, The work of Edward Burra, 1919 -1936: context and imagery, Edinburgh PhD thesis, 1988, p. 184). 107
HM-G
[cat.100]
Graham Sutherland, OM (1903-1980) Twisted Road, Pembrokeshire With a study for a rock form at Picton (verso) Watercolour over pencil, 16 by 13 cm (6 ¼ by 5 ins) Provenance: acquired directly from the artist by his friend, the writer Giorgio Soavi, in the early 1970s; Sotheby's London, 20th Century British Art, 15 December 2010 (part of lot 20)
In the late 1960s and 1970s Sutherland returned to the same bleak and dramatic Pembrokeshire landscape that had provided inspiration for his earliest significant work as a mature artist. Photographs and notebooks from the time show a renewed focus not only on the more minute features of the landscape (the moss on small stones, clumps of earth etc.) but also on its more expansive elements. In this spirit he painted the twisting Pembrokeshire roads near St David’s (as in cat.100) and the sunset through the nearby hills (cat.101), a 108
work that recalls the art of one of Sutherland’s early heroes, Samuel Palmer. Studies like these, sometimes sketched on-the-spot, are preliminary ideas for his larger finished works, paintings such as Road to Porthclais with Setting Sun from 1975, now in the National Museum of Wales (acc.no.A2267). On this valedictory return to Wales, Sutherland wrote of the “curiously charged atmosphere” in the Welsh landscape, enabling him to paint this familiar countryside with a renewed vigour.
HM-G
[cat.101]
Graham Sutherland, OM (1903-1980) Pembrokeshire Landscape, Sunset Signed and dated l.r.: G.S./1975 Watercolour with gouache over pencil, charcoal and pen and ink, 15.5 by 18.5 cm (6 by 7 ¼ ins) Provenance: acquired directly from the artist by a Continental European Private collector in the mid-1970s
109
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. Guy left Sotheby’s in 2004 to work as a dealer in early British watercolours and since 2006 he has shared a gallery on the ground floor of 6 Mason’s Yard, more recently with Harry Moore-Gwyn and Nicholas Shaw. He advises clients and museums on their collections, buys and sells on their behalf and can provide insurance valuations. Guy Peppiatt Fine Art exhibit as part of Master Drawings New York every January as well as London Art Week in July and December. He has recently curated an exhibition of early British watercolours at Eton College. He has regular exhibitions in the gallery - recent ones
including ‘Bristol School of artists 1820-1860’, ‘Charles Gore 1729-1807’, ‘Edward Lear 1812-1888’, ‘British Portrait and Figure Drawings’ and ‘John Linnell and his Contemporaries’.
HARRY MOORE-GWYN studied at Oxford University and Christie’s Education before working as a graduate trainee at Sotheby’s London. He started dealing independently in 2000 and has since developed his reputation as a dealer in British Paintings, drawings and sculpture with a focus on the period 1870 to 1950, including artists such as the Bloomsbury Painters (Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell and Roger Fry), John and Paul Nash, John Piper and Graham Sutherland. Primarily dealing through fairs, which have included the BADA Fair, the Grosvenor House Antiques Fair and the British Art Fair at the Saatchi Gallery, he opened his first gallery on the Third floor at 6 Mason’s Yard in St James’s in 2018, moving to the Ground floor in 2021 to join Guy Peppiatt and Nicholas Shaw. His stock is also available for viewing at his home near
Chalford in the western part of the Cotswolds. He has a particular interest in unsung painters of the period, publishing numerous catalogues on twentieth century British art and working with a number of artist’s estates amongst them Lowes Dalbiac Luard and Anthony Devas. In 2015 he cocurated the centenary show on Kenneth Rowntree at the Fry Art Gallery, Saffron Walden and Pallant House, Chichester, the catalogue for which was nominated for the Berger Prize for British Art History in 2016. In addition to dealing, his work as a curator has included the first major retrospective on the painter Henry Lamb for a generation at Salisbury Museum in 2018 (later travelling to Poole Museum in 2019). His catalogue for this show, Henry Lamb: Out of the Shadows was published by Paul Holberton in 2018.
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Sarah Hobrough has worked as a consultant for Guy Peppiatt Fine Art since 2017. Sarah has spent nearly 25 years in the field of British drawings and watercolours. She started her career at Spink and Son in 1995, where she began to develop a specialism in British watercolours of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In 2002, she helped set up Lowell Libson Ltd, serving as co-director of the gallery. Since then, she has established a landscape design company, which she continues to run, alongside her art consultancy practice, and worked for Christie’s watercolour department for a number of years.
A Austin, Samuel Austin, William Frederick
CAT No.
21 51
B Badmin, Stanley Roy Barret Junior, George Barton, Ezekiel Beaton, Sir Cecil Bright, Henry Brill, Reginald Burne-Jones, Coley, Sir Edward Burra, Edward
56, 57 99
C Callow, William Campion, George Bryant Carelli, Gabriele Chinnery, George Clausen, Sir George, Cleveley, Robert
31 28 35 25, 26 61 9
85 22 10 96 33, 34 98
D Day, William 6 de Wint, Peter 14, 15, 16 Dunthorne the Younger, James 3 F Fielding, Newton Smith Limbird Flaxman, John Fripp, Alfred Downing
23 12 37
G CAT No. Garden, William Fraser 45 Gertler, Mark 68 Gill, Eric 69 Glover, John 13 80, 81, 82, 83 Grant, Duncan Grimm, Samuel Hieronymous 5 Gross, Anthony 86 H Hennell, Thomas Howitt, Samuel
84 19
J John, Augustus John, Gwen
67 66
K Kennington, Eric Kortright, Guy
71 63
L Laporte, John Lawrence, Alfred Kingsley Lear, Edward Lehmann, Olga Leitch, William Leighton Lindsay, Thomas
8 78 44 76 30 32
M Mason, George Heming Millais, Sir John Everett, Minton, John Mole, John Henry Mulready, William N Naftel, Paul Jacob Nash, John Nash, Paul Nicholl, Andrew Nicol, Erskine
52 54 94, 95 42, 43 53
36 90, 91 88, 89 40, 41a, 41b 38
P Procter, Ernest
CAT No.
73
R Redgrave, Richard 24 Richmond, George 20 Richmond, Sir William Blake 55 Roberts, David 29 Roberts, William 77 Robinson, Arnold Wathen 58 Rothenstein, Sir William 72 Rowlandson, Thomas 7, 11 Rowntree, Kenneth 92, 93 Russell, John 2 S Sickert, Walter Sleigh, Bernard Smith, John Raphael Spencer, Sir Stanley Stott, Edward Sutherland, Graham
64, 65 62 4 70 60 100, 101
T Thorburn, Archibald 49a, 49b Todd, Arthur Middleton 87 Tonks, Henry 59 Tunnicliffe, Charles Frederick 50a, 50b Turner of Oxford, William 27 V Varley, John Vaughan, Keith
17, 18 97
W White, Ethelbert 79 Wilson, Dr. Edward Adrian 46, 47a, 47b, 48 Wilson, Robert Arthur 74, 75 Worlidge, Thomas 1 Wyld, William 39
111
GUY PEPPIATT
HARRY MOORE-GWYN
FINE ART
BRITISH ART
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“Herald” for “Les Illuminations”, 1950 [cat.96] Opposite page: Robert Arthur Wilson (1884-1979) Design: Sarah Garwood Creative, sarahagarwood@outlook.com Print: Zenith Print Group, enquiries@zenithprintgroup.com 112
The Ascent [cat.75]