british drawings and watercolours 2017

BRITISH DRAWINGS AND WATERCOLOURS2017

GUY PEPPIATT FINE ART

GUY PEPPIATT FINE ART LTD

Riverwide House, 6 Mason’s Yard Duke Street, St James’s, London SW1Y 6BU

BRITISHDRAW

INGSAND

WATERCOLOURS 2017

GUY PEPPIATT FINE ART

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Guy Peppiatt started his working life at Dulwich Picture Gallery before joining Sotheby’s British Picturesdepartment in 1993. He soon specialised in early British drawings and watercolours and took over therunning of Sotheby’s Topographical sales. Topographical views whether they be of Britain or worldwidehave remained an abiding passion. Guy left Sotheby’s in early 2004 and has worked as a dealer sincethen, first based at home, and now in his gallery on Mason’s Yard, St James’s, shared with the Old Masterand European Drawings dealer Stephen Ongpin. He advises clients and museums on their collections,buys and sells on their behalf and can provide insurance valuations. Guy Peppiatt Fine Art exhibit at anumber of London fairs and are also part of Master Drawings New York every January. Guy also vets anumber of art fairs and is Chairman of the Vetting Committee for the Works on Paper Fair.


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Monday to Friday 10am to 6pmWeekends and evenings by appointment

Guy Peppiatt Fine Art LtdRiverwide House, 6 Mason’s Yard

Duke Street, St James’s, London SW1Y 6BU

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7930 3839Mobile: +44 (0) 7956 968284Fax: +44 (0) 20 7839 [email protected]


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1William Taverner (1700-1772)An Italianate Landscape

Watercolour over pencil heightened with white on two sheets of laid paper joined14.2 by 40.2 cm., 5 ½ by 15 ¾ in.

Provenance:With Thos. Agnews, London, 1984

Exhibited:London, Thos. Agnew & Sons, 111th Annual Exhibition of Watercolours and Drawings,23rd January-24th February 1984, no. 6

Taverner was a lawyer by profession, inheriting his father’s position as Procurator-General of the Court of Arches of Canterbury, based in Bow Church, London, but he was also a highly skilled artist. The engraver George Vertue records in one of hisnotebooks in 1733: ‘Mr Taverner about Aeta 30 (beside his practice in the Law) has

a wonderfull genius to drawing of Landskip in an excellent manner, adorned withfigures in a stile above the common’ (George Vertue, ‘The Notebooks of GeorgeVertue’, Walpole Society, vol. 3, p.68). According to Martin Hardie, he was ‘our firstregular and systematic painter of free landscapes in watercolour’ (Martin Hardie,Water-colour Painting in Britain, 1966, vol. I, p.69).

The majority of his works are of imaginary Italianate compositions in the manner ofClaude and Poussin although he appears never to have visited Italy. He was one of the earliest exponents of the combination of watercolour and bodycolour as thelead white bodycolour on the present drawing indicates. A number of his works arein the same panoramic format. A drawing from the Oppé collection in the TateGallery measures 7 ½ by 18 inches and is also on two sheets of paper (see AnneLyles and Robin Hamlyn, British Watercolours from the Oppé Collection, 1997, p.50,no.7, ill. p.51).


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2Attributed to Charles Grignion (1721-1810)Study of a Woman

Black and white chalk on blue laid paper39.3 by 26.5 cm., 15 ½ by 10 ½ in.

Provenance:The Estate of Vivienne Haskell, the wife of the ballet critic Arnold Haskell(1903-1980)

This relates closely in style to a portrait by Charles Grignion of the artist’sbrother Thomas drawn in 1737 which is in the British Museum (BM1890,0512,94). This drawing is likely to have been executed at the StMartin’s Lane Academy which was set up by William Hogarth in 1735. The premises were a room on St Peter’s Court off St Martin’s Lane wheremembers would meet to draw from a life model. Members including theengraver Gravelot, the sculptor Roubiliac, the artist Francis Hayman andthe young Gainsborough who was employed by Gravelot at the time. StMartin’s Lane Academy drawings are usually drawn on a blue or buff sheetand are of similar size. Two drawings of a similar woman by Gravelot, ofthe same size and on buff paper, are in the Ashmolean Museum(WA1863.100 and 101).

Born in Covent Garden to foreign probably French Huguenot parents,Grignion studied at the St Martin’s Lane Academy as a young man. He was employed by Hogarth as an engraver on his four Election picturesamongst others and also by Gravelot. In the 1770s, he worked forThomas Stothard but his style began to feel old-fashioned and he wassuperseded by younger engravers.

We are grateful to Hugh Belsey for his comments on this drawing.


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3Paul Sandby, R.A. (1731-1809)Page’s Farm, Easton Park, Essex

Watercolour and bodycolour over pencil20.0 by 27.4 cm., 7 ¾ by 10 ¾ in.

The manor and estates of Little Easton, later Easton Park, were granted to HenryMaynard, Lord Burleigh’s private secretary in 1590. He was knighted in 1603. Thehouse, Easton |Park, was built in 1597 and burnt down in 1847 when it was rebuiltby Hopper. At the date of the present work, Easton Lodge was in the possession ofCharles, Viscount Maynard (1752-1824) who inherited the peerage in 1775 andsucceeded his father as 5th Baronet in 1792. He married but had no children so the estate was inherited by his nephew.

The house later achieved notoriety as the home of Daisy Maynard who marriedFrancis Greville, later Earl of Warwick, in 1881. She was famous as a socialite who hadseveral affairs with powerful men including Edward VII and was the inspiration for themusic hall song ‘Daisy Daisy’. On the death of Edward VII, she tried to blackmail hisson, the new king George V with letters written by his father but she wasoutmanoeuvred by Lord Staffordham and died virtually penniless.

Although her main residence was Warwick Castle, she retained Easton Lodge andcreated lavish gardens and a private zoo at the house. Much of the Estate was sold offin the 1890s and again in 1919 and 1920. 1500 acres of woodland and farmlandremained in the Maynard family until it was sold to Land Securities plc in 2004.

This is one of two pictures of this size exhibited by Sandby at the British Institution in1808 entitled ‘Part of Page’s Farm, near Easton Park, Essex’ (no.271) or ‘Page’s Farm,Easton Park, Essex, from the West.’ Views of the Keeper’s Lodge, Easton Park are inthe Victoria and Albert Museum (Dyce 746) and the British Museum (1904,0819.23),which also has a ‘design for a window blind, Easton Park’, dated 1809.

Exhibited:London, British Institution, 1808, no 271 or 287

Sold with a drawing of the same subject:

Paul Sandby, R.A. (1730-1809)Entrance into Easton Park

Inscribed lower centre: Entrance into Easton Park from Dunmow?Pencil on laid paper12.8 by 22.9 cm., 5 ¼ by 9 ¼ in.

Provenance:Admiral Sir James Hawkins-Whiteshed (1762-1849)


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4John White Abbott (1763-1851)Chudleigh Rock on the Teign, Devon

Inscribed verso: Chudleigh Sept. 2. 1799Pen and black ink and watercolour16.1 by 24.7 cm., 6 ½ by 9 ¾ in.

Provenance:By descent from the artist until sold at Sotheby’s, 21st March 2002, lot 155

White Abbott was a friend and pupil of Francis Towne (1740-1816) and worked as asurgeon in his home town of Exeter. Most of his landscapes are Devon views and heexhibited at the Royal Academy but never sold a work in his lifetime. His only

sketching tour outside the south-west of England was to the Lake District and Scotlandin 1791 (see no.6). In 1825, he inherited an estate near Exeter to which he retired.

Chudleigh is a town on the river Teign fourteen miles south-west of Exeter. ChudleighRock was a popular beauty spot near Ugbrooke Park, the home of the Clifford family.Towne also drew Chudleigh Rock, in 1787. A study of undergrowth at Chudleigh byWhite Abbott dated 21st September 1798 was sold at Christie’s on 5th June 2007, lot2 for £6,600 and a view of Chudleigh Rock by him dated 14th August 1792 was soldthere on 14th November 1972, lot 97.


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5John White Abbott (1763-1851)Near Stapleton, Bristol

Inscribed verso: near Stapleton Aug.t 10. 94.Pen and grey ink and watercolour on laid paper15.5 by 22.3 cm., 6 by 8 ¾ in.

Provenance:By descent from the artist until circa 1995

Stapleton is a hilly area to the north-east of the centre of Bristol and was a popularsketching ground for Bristol artists.

For more on the artist, see note to no.4.


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6John White Abbott (1763-1851)Loch Long from Hills near Arrochar, Scotland at 5 in the Morning

Signed verso: On Loch Long from an Hill near Arrochar, at 5 O’Clock in the Morning/JWA.July 2. 1791. Pen and grey ink and watercolour on laid paper on original washline mount18.8 by 24 cm., 7 ¼ by 9 ½ in.

Provenance:By descent from the artist until sold at Sotheby’s on 30th June 2005, lot 252, wherebought by the present owner

This drawing dates from White Abbott’s six week tour of the north of England andScotland in the summer of 1791. Most of his drawings from the tour are numberedstarting with no. 1, dated 13th June, of York Minster with no.80, dating 28th July ofGlastonbury. He was in Edinburgh by 19th June then continued north to Stirling andDunkeld then west to Loch Tay, Loch Awe, Loch Fyne and Loch Long, the subject ofthe present drawing, dated 2nd July. He then continued south to Loch Lomond to seethe Falls of the Clyde, then on to Glasgow and the south. Arrochar is situated at thenorth end of Loch Long close to Loch Lomond.


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7Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827)Waiting for the Invasion

Pen and grey ink and watercolour over pencil30.5 by 45.9 cm., 12 by 18 in.

Provenance:With the Fine Art Society, 1946;Anonymous sale, Christie’s, 4th November 1975, lot 33;Anonymous sale, Sotheby’s, 14th July 1988, lot 74;By descent to the present owner

This drawing is likely to date from between 1798 and 1805, when invasion of Englandby Napoleon and his army seemed at its most imminent. In 1798 these fears led to

The Defence of the Realm Act, passed on 5th April, which determined how thecountry would be defended. A system of volunteer regiments was set up and beaconswere installed along the coast as a means of fast communication. In the summer of1803 when war resumed after the Treaty of Amiens of 1802, General Sir DavidDundas set up his headquarters in Canterbury convinced that Dover was the mostlikely place for a Napoleonic invasion.

Another version of this watercolour is illustrated in Bernard Falk’s Thomas Rowlandson,his Life and Art, a Documentary Record, 1949, p.165 and Adrian Bury’s Rowlandson’sDrawings, 1949, pl.81.


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8Thomas Sunderland (1744-1823)View of Ullswater from the South

Watercolour over pencil32.5 by 45.4 cm., 12 ¾ by 17 ¾ in.

This is a view of Ullswater from the east bank looking across to Stybarrow Crag.Sunderland was born at Whittington Hall near Kirkby Lonsdale. He successfully ranthe family business of iron mining and smelting until retiring to a house at Ulverston in

the early 1780s. Sunderland was a regular visitor to Ullswater as his daughter Annewas married to the Rev. Henry Askew who lived at Glenridding House on the lake.


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9Edward Dayes (1763-1804)Flint Castle, North Wales by Moonlight

Signed lower right: EDayesWatercolour over pencil with original washline border16.6 by 11 cm., 6 ¾ by 4 ½ in.

Provenance:With Leger Galleries, London, November 1971

Flint Castle stands on the banks of the river Dee to the north-west ofChester. It was the first of Edward I’s castle built in the late 13th century as part of his plan to conquer Wales.

Dayes was described by Hardie as ‘the outstanding member of the group of topographers at the close of the eighteenth century’ (see MartinHardie, Water-Colour Painting in Britain, 1966, vol. I, p.179). He studied atthe Royal Academy Schools from 1780 and his bluish-grey colouring anddraughtsmanship were a strong influence on his pupil Thomas Girtin aswell as J.M.W. Turner in the mid 1790s. Dayes specialised in topographicallandscapes often with an architectural feature and many of his views wereengraved.


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10John ‘Warwick’ Smith (1749-1831)View towards Capel Curig from the Resting Place on the Ascent of the Mountain Ridgenorth of Nantwynan

Inscribed on original mount: 233./July 14.th 1792./View towards Capel Curig from theGorphwysfa or Resting Place, on the Ascent of the Mountain Ridge/North of Nantwynan.From hence communications in opposite directions, extend to Capel Curig./and Llanberis.- Carnarvonshire -Watercolour over traces of pencil heightened with touches of bodycolour14 by 21.5 cm., 5 ¾ by 8 ½ in.

Provenance:The 7th Earl of Warwick, his sale, Sotheby’s, 17th June 1936

Smith was the son of a Cumberland gardener and studied under Sawrey Gilpin(1733-1807), another artist from the North-west. Gilpin introduced Smith to the Earlof Warwick who paid for his trip to Italy from 1776 until 1781, hence his nickname.

Smith made various tours of Wales and his Welsh are usually precisely dated andinscribed with the subject.


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11John ‘Warwick’ Smith (1749-1831)A Bridge over the river Trient, Switzerland

Inscribed with title verso, watercolour over pencil heightened withtouches of bodycolour47.7 by 31.7 cm., 18 ¾ by 12 ½ in.

Provenance:With Thos Agnew & Sons, London;Private Collection

Smith was the son of a Cumberland gardener and studied under SawreyGilpin (1733-1807), another local artist. Gilpin introduced Smith to theEarl of Warwick who paid for his trip to Italy from 1776 until 1781, hencehis nickname. Smith passed through Switzerland on his return to Englandwith Francis Towne in the summer of 1781. They left Rome in August andentered Switzerland near Chiavenna travelling up to Lake Walenstadt thenheaded west to Geneva. From there they travelled south to Chamonixand returned to Geneva via Montreux.

Dated drawings by Towne reveal that they were still in Geneva on 11thSeptember and had reached Vevey on the 20th. They headed north fromGeneva and homewards on the 23rd.

The river Trient originates from the Trient Glacier and flows through thevillage of the same name. Trient is situated a few miles to the south-westof Martigny and north-east of Chamonix near the French-Swiss border.Another view of this bridge, in landscape format, was sold at Christie’sSouth Kensington on 20th May 2015, lot 597


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12Michael ‘Angelo’ Rooker, A.R.A. (1743-1801)At Braintree, Essex

Indistinctly inscribed lower right: The Great...... and verso: at Braintree, EfsexPen and grey ink and washes over traces of pencil20.2 by 29.4 cm., 8 by 11 ½ in.

Provenance:Anonymous sale, Sotheby’s, 15th June 2000, lot 231, where bought by the presentowner

This is a view of St. Michael’s church, Braintree, which stands on the corner of SouthStreet and High Street.

Rooker was the son of the engraver Edward Rooker (1712-1774). He studied at theSt Martin’s Lane Academy and was also taught by Paul Sandby (see no.3). He was oneof the first students at the newly formed Royal Academy schools in 1769 and made anassociate member the following year. He worked in Sandby’s topographical traditionand made a series of walking tours across England and Wales from 1788. Some of hisbest works are his views of Oxford drawn and engraved for the Oxford Almanack.Redgrave in his dictionary describes his watercolours as follows: ‘His works are drawnwith conscientious accuracy, and show a sweet pencil, coupled with a fine taste andfinish, which give him rank among our early water-colour painters’ (Samuel Redgrave,A Dictionary of Artists of the English School, 1878, p.368).


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13Michael ‘Angelo’ Rooker, A.R.A. (1743-1801)A Farmhouse by a Country Road

Signed with initials lower rightWatercolour over pencil heightened with touches of bodycolour on laid paper 23.6 by 29.8 cm., 9 ¼ by 11 ¾ in.

Provenance:With the Albany Gallery, London, November 1972;Private Collection

See note to no.12


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14Joseph Mallord William Turner, R.A. (1775-1851)Wells Cathedral, Somerset

Pencil22.1 by 25.9 cm., 8 ½ by 10 in..

Provenance:With Colnaghi, where bought by Michael Ingram, 1951;Michael Ingram, his sale, Sotheby’s, 8th December 2005, lot 149, where bought bythe present owner

This is a view of Wells Cathedral from the south across the moat of the Bishop’sPalace. The two towers in the centre are the remains of the hall of the Bishop’s Palace built in the late 13th century. This appears to be a missing sheet from Turner’s‘South Wales’ sketchbook which he used in the summer of 1795. This was his thirdvisit to Wales and his first comprehensive tour. He first used the sketchbook in Wellsthen continued to Bristol, Newport, Swansea, Neath and Cardiff. He went on toPembrokeshire and returned via Brecon and Monmouth. There are two views ofWells still in the sketchbook, nos. TB XXIV 1 and 2.


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15Joseph Mallord William Turner, R.A. (1775-1851) and Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)A Boatbuilder’s Yard, Dover

Grey washes and pencil21 by 29 cm., 8 ¼ by 11 ¼ in.

Provenance:Anonymous sale, Christie’s, 9th June 2005, lot 32;Private Collection

This sketch, dating from 1795-96, belongs to a group of views of shipping at Dovercopied by Turner and Thomas Girtin from the work of the amateur artist and collectorJohn Henderson probably commissioned by Dr Monro. Henderson was a neighbouron Adelphi Terrace, London, of Dr Thomas Monro who commissioned work fromboth Turner and Girtin in the early to mid1790s. On a number of drawings, theyworked together with Girtin drawing in pencil and Turner adding the washes.

Joseph Farington records in his diary (1st December 1795) that Henderson lentMonro ‘a Portfolio of outlines of Shipping and boats, made at Dover.’ Henderson’ssketches were probably drawn in the summer of 1794. A number of these Doversubjects appeared at Dr Monro’s sale at Christie’s on 26th June 1833 and werebought by Turner. They are now in the Turner Bequest in the Tate Gallery and aresimilar views of Dover (D36616-36624). Others are in the Courtauld Institute,National Gallery of Scotland and the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Henderson’scollection which includes several of his ‘outlines’ passed to his son who bequeathed it to the British Museum

We are grateful to Andrew Wilton for confirming the attribution


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16John Constable, R.A. (1776-1837)The Tomb of James Gubbins, Epsom Churchyard

Inscribed lower left: Epsom June 11.1816 and inscribed verso: Beneath thisstone are deposited/the mortal remains of/James Gubbins Esqr of Epsom/whodeparted this life on the/7th day of June 1814 - Aged 69. And it is/alsoinscribed to the memory of/his son Captn James Gubbins/of the 13thDragoons who was killed/on the 18th of June 1815 - in the battle/of Waterlooin Flanders/Epsom 11th 1816Pencil18 by 11.2 cm., 7 by 4 ¼ in.

Provenance:The 28th Earl of Crawford (1900-1975);By descent to the present owner

This drawing dates from a previously unrecorded trip to Epsom byConstable in June 1816, presumably to see his aunt on his mother’s sideMary Gubbins. The subject of the present drawing, and the inscription on the reverse, suggests he was also there to see the newly installedtombstone for his uncle James. Constable’s own parents had recentlydied, his mother in March 1815 and his father on 14th May 1816 andGraham Reynolds points out that the design of James Gubbins’s tombclosely resembles Constable’s parents’ tomb in East Bergholt. The presentdrawing reinforces the theory that the latter was based on the former.

The size of the present drawing suggests it originates from the sketchbookused by Constable in 1815 and 1816. Graham Reynolds lists otherdrawings from this sketchbook which he calls 1815 (a) (see GrahamReynolds, The Early Paintings and Drawings of John Constable, 1996,no.257).

Constable made two other more finished drawings of this subject in 1822 (see Graham Reynolds, The Later Paintings and Drawings of JohnConstable, 1984, nos. 22.7 and 22.8).

We are grateful to Anne Lyles for her help in cataloguing this drawing.


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17John Constable, R.A. (1776-1837)The Porch at East Bergholt Church, Suffolk

With an ink off-print versoPencil17.3 by 11.4 cm., 6 ¾ by 4 ½ in.

Provenance:The 28th Earl of Crawford (1900-1975):By descent to the present owner

This appears to show one of the ruined arches of the unfinished tower ofEast Bergholt Church, probably the north one (see Graham Reynolds, TheEarly Paintings and Drawings of John Constable, 1996, nos. 6.4, 6.6, 6.8 and6.9) and is likely to originate from the same sketchbook as Tomb of JamesGubbins, Epsom’ used in 1815 and 1816.

The ink markings on the reverse of this drawing indicate that it was drawnwith an apparatus invented by Constable to record as accurately as possiblethe main outline of what he saw in front of him. He got the idea from a new edition of Leonardo da Vinci’s Treatise on Painting which he bought in1796. Two of these tracings were included in the exhibition of Constabledrawings at Dulwich Picture Gallery in 1994 and the process is described infull in the catalogue (see Constable – a Master Draughtsman, exhibitioncatalogue, 1994, nos. 23 and 24, p.130-133). These drawings of FlatfordLock and East Bergholt House were dated 24th November 1813 and 5thOctober 1814 respectively.

We are grateful to Anne Lyles for her help in cataloguing this drawing.


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18Henry Edridge, A.R.A. (1769-1821)Nôtre Dame and Pont Marie from the Pont du Jardin du Roi, Paris

Inscribed upper right: Notre Dame and Pont Marie from Pont du Jardin du Roy Paris June17. 1819Pencil on wove paper watermarked J WHATMAN25.4 by 41.9 cm., 10 by 16 ½ in.

Provenance:With Spinks,London;Anonymous sale, Christie’s, 19th April 1991 lot 118a;Anonymous sale, Christie’s, 16th November 2006, lot 116, sold for £10,900;Private Collection, London

This is a view looking north-west up the Seine towards the Cathedral of Notre Dame.In 1801, Napoleon decided to build three new bridges over the Seine in Paris. The

Pont d’Austerlitz or Pont du Jardin-du-Roi as it was known between 1814 and 1830,linked the Faubourg Saint-Antoine on the Right Bank with the Jardin des Plantes on theLeft. The embankments on the Seine were not built until 1827. The five arches ofthe Pont Marie, seen in front of Notre Dame, is one of the oldest bridges in Paris andlinks the Ile Saint-Louis with the Right Bank.

This drawing dates from the second of his three trips to Paris and Northern France inthe summers of 1818, 1819 and 1820. During the Napoleonic Wars travel to thecontinent was difficult but this changed after the peace treaty of 1816. He exhibitednine French views at the Royal Academy in 1820 and 1821, the year of his death. A sketchbook of his French tour of 1819 is in the British Museum and other Frenchviews by him are in the Royal Collection, Courtauld Institute, the Yale Center forBritish Art and Birmingham City Art Gallery.


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19Samuel Prout (1783-1852)View across the Grand Canal from the Salute, Venice

Pencil and stump heightened with touches of white on grey paper25 by 36 cm., 9 ¾ by 14 in.

Provenance:With the Fine Art Society, London, 1962;Private Collection

This is a view looking north across the Grand Canal from the steps of the church ofSanta Maria della Salute. The building with the tower on top to the right is the 15thcentury Palazzo Contarini Fasan, originally the home of the Contarini family. In thecentre extending across two buildings is the Palazzo Ferro Fini, now the home of theConsiglio Regionale del Veneto. It was originally two palazzos, the Morosini Ferro

and the Flangini Fini, which were combined in the 1860s as the New York hotel. By1970, the buildings were in decay and were purchased by the Veneto Region tohouse the local government. The building to the far left beyond the side canal is theGritti Palace Hotel.

Prout’s first visit to Italy, and Venice, was in 1824 and his first exhibited works were thefollowing year. As well as watercolours, he produced highly finished pencil drawings ofthis type which stylistically influenced the young John Ruskin. They were usually drawnon grey paper with white heightening. For a drawing of the Riva degli Schiavoni, of thesame size, see Timothy Wilcox, Samuel Prout – a Grand Tour in Watercolour, 2017,no.22, pp.86-7, ill.


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20George Barret, Jnr. (1767-1842)A Boat on a River in an Arcadian Landscape

Watercolour heightened with bodycolour, scratching out and stopping out12.9 by 19.9 cm., 5 by 7 ¾ in.

Barret Jnr was the son of a Dublin artist of the same name. He was a foundermember of the Society of Painters in Water-colours in 1805 and exhibited there

throughout his life. Redgrave describes his work as follows: ‘He excelled in his poetictreatments of sunrise and sunset, the effects of moonlight and in his truly classic andpoetic compositions’ (Samuel Redgrave, A Dictionary of Artists of the British School,1878, p.26).


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21John Sell Cotman (1782-1842)Arnold’s Cottage

Signed lower right: CotmanWatercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour19 by 28.2 cm., 7 ½ by 11 ¼ in.

This previously unrecorded watercolour can be dated to circa 1820. A pencil drawingof this subject, inscribed ‘Arnold’s Cottage’, signed and numbered 1900 is in the Castle

Museum, Norwich (1932.105,60). A related watercolour ‘A garden house on thebanks of the Yare’ is of a similar subject, and has the same signature and the sameextensive use of pencil was sold at Christie’s on 16th November 2006, lot 61 for£18,000 hammer.


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22Robert Hills (1769-1844)Feeding Ducks in a Farmyard

Signed lower right: RHills 1814Watercolour heightened with touches of bodycolour29.5 by 41.5 cm., 11 ½ by 16 ¼ in.

Provenance:With Guy Peppiatt Fine Art, 2009;Private Collection

Hills was born in Islington, north London, and entered the R.A. Schools in 1788,exhibiting at the Royal Academy in 1791. He came to prominence in 1804 as one ofthe six artists who founded the Old Watercolour Society and he exhibited almost sixhundred drawings there during his lifetime. He was the Society’s first Secretary andlater served as Treasurer. He specialised in studies of animals and farmyards and hiswork is distinctive for its ‘fuzzy’ technique.


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Provenance:With Heather Newman;Private Collection

23Robert Hills (1769-1844)Wooded Landscape with Donkeys by a Duck Pond

Signed lower right: R. HillsWatercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour31.8 by 41.6 cm., 12 ½ by 16 ¼ in.


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24William Turner of Oxford (1789-1862)Scene near St. Ann’s Well, Great Malvern

Signed centre right: W. Turner/1832 and signed on reverse of original mount: No.4/AScene near St. Anne’s Well, Great Malvern/W. Turner. OxfordWatercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour and stopping out33.3 by 56.1 cm., 13 ¼ by 22 ¼ in.

Provenance:J. Moxon, 23 Lincolns Inn Fields, London, 1832;With Christopher Powney, from whom bought, March 1963;Private Collection until 2016

Exhibited:London, Society of Painters in Water-colours, 1832, no. 76, bought J. Moxon, 23Lincolns Inn Fields, for 8 guineas

St Ann’s Well sits on the Malvern Hills above the town of Great Malvern,Worcestershire. The spring there is named after St. Anne and the building whichcontains it was built in 1814. This is a view looking east from the Malvern Hillstowards the northern Cotswolds. Below is Great Malvern Priory which was originallya Benedictine monastery and is now an Anglican church. It has the largest collection of 15th century stained glass in the country.


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25William Turner of Oxford (1789-1862)Sunset on Boar’s Hill, Oxford

Watercolour and bodycolour15.7 by 24.6 cm., 6 by 9 ½ in.

Provenance:With the Fine Art Society, London, March 1974;Walter Brandt, his sale, Christie’s, 14th July 1987, lot 96;Anonymous sale, Christie’s, 21st November 2007, lot 100, where bought by thepresent owner

A number of similar sky and cloud studies by Turner of Oxford are datable to 1845-50. Three of this type are included in the 1984 exhibition catalogue, The NineMaidens, Morvah’, Roman Road near Dorchester’ and ‘Full Moon over the Cherwell’(see Timothy Wilcox and Christopher Titterington, William Turner of Oxford (1789-1962), 1984, nos. 70-72) where they are described: ‘The scattering of brilliantlycoloured strokes of bodycolour as finishing touches on a drawing executed inwatercolour is a common characteristic of Turner’s work in the 1840s and 1850s’(op.cit., p.68). ‘Stratus Clouds Evening’ was sold from the collection of Monsieur and Madame Gerard Bauer at Christie’s, 22nd January 2003, lot 19.


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26Peter de Wint (1784-1849)Leathley Church on the River Wharfe, Yorkshire

Watercolour over pencil26.7 by 39.2 cm., 10 ½ by 15 ¼ in.

Provenance:Anonymous sale, Sotheby’s, 27th November 2003, lot 273, where bought by thepresent owner

Leathley is a small village one mile north east of Otley in North Yorkshire near theborder with West Yorkshire. This is a view taken from the north looking down theriver Wharfe with the Norman tower of Leathley church visible on the hill to the left. De Wint was a frequent visitor to his patron (and Turner’s) Walter Fawkes (1769-1825) of Farnley Hall, which was only a few miles from Leathley. A nineteenth centurybiography records a visit: ‘Bolton Abbey he visited many times….. He first saw it in1814 when he went to Farnley Hall on a visit to Mr Fawkes’ (Sir Walter Fawkes,Memoir of Peter De Wint, 1888). Stylistically this dates from circa 1820.


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27Peter de Wint (1784-1849)The Cathedral of St Jacques, Dieppe

Watercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour29.7 by 45.8 cm., 11 ½ by 18 in.

Provenance:With Thos. Agnews, London;Anonymous sale, Sotheby’s, 21st July 1975, lot 186;By descent to the present owner

This dates from de Wint’s only trip abroad, to Normandy in 1828. This view is of thenorth-east of the church looking south from the Place Saint-Jacques with the transept

on the left. The church was built in around 1283 but the building was not finished untilthe late sixteenth century.

Other Normandy views by de Wint include ‘Dieppe Castle from the Beach’ in theUsher Art Gallery, Lincoln and views of Dieppe and Rouen were included in the saleof works by de Wint from the Mathew Pryor collection sold at Sotheby’s on 4th July2002, lots 392-4).


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28John Thirtle (1777-1839)A Cottage on a River, Norwich Signed lower left: Thirtle Norwich/1828Watercolour over pencil18.5 by 24.2 cm., 7 ¼ by 9 ½ in.

This is a typical late work by Thirtle which have ‘a brilliancy of colour and an angularityof block-like forms’ (see Marjorie Allthorpe-Guyton, John Thirtle – Drawings in NorwichCastle Museum, 1977, p.24). It is also typical in the combined subject matter of oldbuildings and water, subjects which always appealed to him.

Apart from his brother-in-law John Sell Cotman, ‘Thirtle was by far the bestwatercolourist among the Norwich artists’ (Huon Mallalieu, The Dictionary of BritishWatercolour Artists up to 1920, 2002, vol. II, p.212). Born in Norwich, he wasapprenticed to a London framer, returning to Norwich in circa 1800 and setting upin business as a framer as well as an artist and drawing tutor. He was a founder of the Norwich Society in 1803 and exhibited from 1805.


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29John Middleton (1827-1856)A Barn, Tunbridge Wells, Kent

Signed with initials lower left: Tunbridge Wells/JM 1847Watercolour over traces of pencil32.7 by 48.2 cm., 12 ¾ by 19 in.

Provenance:Private Collection, UK

Middleton’s tour of Kent in 1847 produced ‘a number of his best free watercolourlandscapes’ (see Andrew Wilton and Annie Lyles, The Great Age of British Watercolours

1750-1880, 1993, p.318). Andrew Moore observed that ‘1847 proved to be theannus mirabilis of Middleton’s life and career’ (Andrew Moore, The Norwich School ofArtists, 1985, p.144).

Middleton almost certainly accompanied his pupil Henry Bright (1810-1873) on a tourof Kent in the summer of 1847. Two Tunbridge Wells views by Bright are in the CastleMuseum, Norwich as well as a watercolour by Middleton with the same inscriptionand date as the present work.


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30James Baker Pyne (1800-1870)View on Lake Windermere

Signed lower right: J.B. PYNEWatercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour and scratching out18.3 by 36 cm., 7 by 14 in.

Pyne was born in Bristol and self-taught as an artist. He came to London in 1835 andexhibited at the Royal Academy and later the Society of British Artists. He travelledextensively on the continent. Agnew published a series of Lake District views by Pyneas lithographs in 1853.

31George Frederick Prosser (1805-1882)The Cathedral Close, Winchester

Signed lower left: The Close/WINTON/G F PROSSER and inscribed verso: The CloseWinchester/G.F. Profser 1864Watercolour over traces of pencil heightened with bodycolour38.8 by 53.3 cm., 15 ¼ by 21 in.

This is a view looking south down the Inner Close from the cathedral. To the left arethe colonnades of the Chapter House with the deanery beyond. To the right are thethree gables of the 17th century stone building now used as the Winchester CathedralEducation Centre. The gothic porch was added in about 1840.

Prosser was born in London and worked in Surrey before moving to Winchester inthe early 1850s. He lived and worked at 80 High Street, Winchester where he alsotaught drawing, and specialised in local views.


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This is probably a view of Mynydd Deulyn from the valley of the river Deironyddwhich flows in to the river Crafnant. Cox visited Bettws-y-Coed in North Wales everysummer from 1844 until 1856 and travelled extensively in the area.

32David Cox (1783-1859)Cattle on a River, North Wales

Inscribed lower left: D. CoxBlack chalk and watercolour17.7 by 26.5 cm., 7 by 10 ¼ in.


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33David Cox (1783-1859)A Horse and Cart on a Country Track,North Wales

Signed lower left: David CoxWatercolour and black chalk17.8 by 26.7 cm., 7 by 10 ½ in.

Provenance:With Walker Galleries, London

This drawing dates from the late 1840s or early 1850s.The mountain behind may be Moel Siabod.


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Traditionally described as a view of Bolsover Castle, Derbyshire, this may also beDryslwyn Castle in the Vale of Towy.

34David Cox (1783-1859)A Castle on a distant Hill

Signed lower right: D. Cox 1832Watercolour heightened with touches of bodycolour and stopping out19.4 by 28.6 cm., 7 ½ by 11 ¼ in.

Provenance:Bought by the present owner at Abbott and Holder


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35David Cox (1783-1859)Cader Idris from Cymer Abbey, North Wales

Watercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour and stopping out43.5 by 66.6 cm., 17 by 26 in.

Provenance:A. Pugin, 1828;William Everitt, 1890;Anonymous sale, Sotheby’s, 1st April 1993, lot 103;Private Collection

Exhibited:London, Society of Painters in Water-colours, 1828, no.62 as ‘View from KymmerAbbey, North Wales’, bought A. Pugin for 6 gns;Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Works by David Cox, 1890, no.456

Literature:Whitworth Wallis and Arthur Bensley Chamberlain, Catalogue of a Special Collection of Works by David Cox, 1890, p.67, no.456

This is a view looking south from Cymer Abbey to Penygader, the summit of CaderIdris. Cymer Abbey was founded in 1158-9 as a Cistercian monastery and sits justacross the Mawddach river from the village of Llanelltyd. It was dissolved by HenryVIII in the 1530s. An engraving of this view by Cox was published in 1836 as a steelengraved print in ‘Wanderings and Excursions in North Wales.’


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36David Cox (1783-1859)Mountainous Landscape, North Wales

Watercolour and black chalk on two sheets of oatmeal paper joinedWhole sheet 21.6 by 64.6 cm., 8 ½ by 25 ½ in.

This watercolour sketch, presumably drawn on two attached sketchbook pages, israre in Cox’s oeuvre. Stylistically it dates from the late 1840s or early 1850s and islikely to be a view near Bettws-y-Coed. A similar hillside study also on two joinedsheets of paper is in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery entitled ‘Welsh Crags’(1907P326). Alternatively this may be a view drawn near Knaresborough in Yorkshirein September 1844. A watercolour of a similar composition showing a hillsidereceding at the same angle entitled ‘Near Knaresborough' is in Hereford Museum (see Scott Wilcox, Sun, Wind, and Rain – The Art of David Cox, 2008, no.76, pp.200-201, ill.).

37David Cox (1783-1859)The Opening of New London Bridge 1831

Watercolour and pencil on two sheets of joined paper21.9 by 36.5 cm., 8 ¾ by 14 ½ in.

Provenance:Greenwood Collection;Christie’s 3rd November 1895, lot 73

In 1799, a competition was held to design a bridge to replace the old London Bridge which was over 600 years old. The completion was won by John Rennie(1761-1821) who planned a bridge of five stone arches. Work began after Rennie’sdeath in 1824 under the supervision of his son, with the bridge being sited 100 feetupstream of the old bridge which was knocked down after the new bridge opened.

The present watercolour shows the official opening by King William IV and QueenAdelaide on 1st August 1831. The Times described the ceremony as ‘the mostsplendid spectacle that has been witnessed on the Thames for many years’. This view is taken from the south bank of the Thames, looking towards north towards thetower of the Monument and the church of St. Magnus. The royal standard can beseen flying from the huge pavilion erected at the north end of the bridge where abanquet was held. The royal party had embarked at Somerset House and processed


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to the bridge between a line of boats and barges. The King disembarked at 4pm andwalked up red-carpeted stairs to the pavilion.

Cox’s biographer N. Neil Solly describes his involvement: ‘On the 1st of August 1831, the New London Bridge, which had taken seven years to build, was openedwith great ceremony by King William IV and Queen Adelaide. Cox…. went down toa coal wharf near St. Saviour’s Church, Bankside, to sketch the preparations, &c., inwatercolours. The gentleman who narrated this to me was a little boy at the time. Hewatched the artist all day at his work on the wharf, which was occupied by the boy’s

father. He had an early taste for art, and when the drawing (a very beautiful one) wasfinished, he asked for it for his own. ‘Oh, my lad,’ replied Cox, ‘do you know it isworth five pounds? ‘This drawing, I am informed, has since been sold for a hundredpounds’ (see N. Neal Solly, The Memoir of the Life of David Cox, 1873, p.67). Thiswatercolour is probably the finished watercolour of this subject in the Yale Center forBritish Art. The Yale view omits the flags on the bridge and the figures in the presentwatercolour so is likely to have drawn first (see Scott Wilcox, Sun, Wind and Rain –The Art of David Cox, 2008, no.55, p.185, ill.).


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38David Cox (1783-1859)Washing Day, North Wales

Signed lower left: David CoxWatercolour over black chalk heightened with bodycolour on oatmeal paper27.7 by 37.1 cm., 10 ¾ by 14 ½ in.

Provenance:Bought at Abbott and Holder, circa 1956, for 12s 6d

This dates from Cox’s Welsh period, the mid 1840s to the mid 1850s, and is likelyto be a view taken near Bettws-y-Coed.


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39James Duffield Harding (1797-1863)A Cottage on Hampstead Heath

With artist’s studio stamp lower right and inscribed: Hampstead Fields/march 6th 1857 Black chalk and stump24.7 by 35 cm., 9 ¾ by 13 ¾ in.

Provenance:Prince Donatus of Hohenzollern

Literature:The Heath and Hampstead Society Newsletter, September 2006, vol. 37, no.3

In the mid nineteenth century, Hampstead Heath was significantly smaller than it is today and was confined to the area immediately to the west of Hampstead.Parliament Hill was added in 1888 and the Kenwood Estate in the 1920s. Between1831 and 1871 local residents fought a long legal battle with Sir Thomas MaryonWilson, the owner of the heath who wanted to build houses on it. It was finally saved for the nation in 1871.


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40

Attributed to Lionel Bicknell Constable (1828-1884)Study of Clouds

Inscribed lower right: Oct 1863Watercolour on wove paper watermarked: J WHATMAN/185319.4 by 39.7 cm., 7 ½ by 15 ¼ in.

This watercolour is traditionally attributed to Lionel Constable, John Constable’syoungest son. His father died when he was nine but he was encouraged to draw in the early 1840s by his brother Alfred. A sketchbook dated 1845 is in the Louvre, Parisand he first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1849. Over the years, many pictures byhim were mistakenly attributed to his father. An exhibition of his work was held at theTate Gallery from 24th February to 4th April1982 (see Leslie Parris and Ian Fleming-Williams, Lionel Constable, exhibition catalogue, 1982). His landscapes studies, like thepresent watercolour, echo the work of his father with low horizon and extensive skies.


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41Edward Duncan, R.W.S. (1803-1882)Study of Clouds

Inscribed lower left: Sky – Rain cloud and further inscribed with colour notesWatercolour over pencil18.7 by 27.5 cm., 7 ¼ by 10 ¾ in.

Provenance:With Lowell Libson;Private Collection, London

Duncan trained as an aquatint engraver under the Havells and was introduced tomarine painting, which became his speciality, by William Huggins whose pictures heengraved and whose daughter he married. His marine scenes usually depict southcoast views often in rough seas. He exhibited at the Royal Academy and principally theOld and New Watercolour Societies from 1830 until 1882. Cloud studies are unusualin his oeuvre.


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42Charles Bentley (1806-1854)Shipping in Calais Harbour

Signed lower right: CBentleyWatercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour and scratching out30.3 by 44.2 cm., 11 ¾ by 17 ¼ in.

Provenance:Private Collection from circa 1950 until 2017

This is a view of Calais from the north showing the old town ramparts. To the left isthe tower of the church of Notre Dame with to the right the Belfry of the town hall

and the Tour Du Guet which served as a lighthouse until a new one was built in 1848. The column on the harbour front is a monument to mark the return to Franceof Louis XVIII on 24th April 1814 after the initial downfall of Napoleon. He landed atCalais on his way to Paris. In 1939 the monument was moved to the Courgain area of the city as it impeded development of Calais harbour.

Bentley was apprenticed to the engraver Theodore Fielding (1781-1851) until 1827.Fielding produced plates for Bonington’s work which Bentley would have had accessto and the influence of Bonington is clear in his work.


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43William Callow (1812-1908)Ariccia on Lake Nemi, Italy

Signed lower left: Wm Callow/1880Watercolour over pencil heightened with stopping out and gum arabic22.1 by 45.1 cm., 8 ¾ by 17 ¾ in.

Callow visited Italy many times between 1840 and 1892. The present watercolourmay be based on sketches made in 1879 when he visited Rome. Ariccia stands 16miles south-east of Rome in the Alban Hills perched on the edge of an old volcaniccrater now filled by Lake Nemi. Ariccia was acquired by the Chigi family in 1661 andthe following year they commissioned Bernini to update the old palace there and builda new church. The dome of Bernini’s church of Santa Maria dell’Assunzione is clearlyvisible in the present watercolour.


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44William Callow, R.W.S. (1812-1908)Eton College Chapel from across the Meadows

Signed lower right: W Callow 1836Watercolour heightened with bodycolour, scratching out and stopping out17.7 by 25.2 cm., 7 by 10 in.

The son of a builder who encouraging his artistic interests, Callow was apprenticedto the artist Theodore Fielding as a thirteen year old in 1823. From 1827 he workedfor his Theodore’s brother Thales Fielding until he went to went as an engraver in

Paris aged only sixteen in 1829. For the next twelve years, he worked mainly in Paris,sharing a studio with Thomas Shotter Boys (1803-1874) from 1831 until 1834. From1834 Callow made his mark as a drawing master to the French aristocracy from hisstudio on Rue de Bouloi. He gave lessons to the second son of the French King andthe Princess Clementine d’Orleans and his first exhibits at the Paris Salon were wellreceived. 1836 to 1841 were his most successful years in Paris with his work indemand and selling well. In the summer of 1836, he embarked on his first major


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45William Callow (1812-1908)A Pony Trap on a Country Lane

Signed lower right: Wm Callow 1894Watercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour33.9 by 24.7 cm., 13 ¼ by 9 ½ in.

Callow moved from London to Great Missenden,Buckinghamshire in 1855. This may be the work exhibited at theSociety of Painters in Water-colours in the winter of 1894 as‘Near the Village of Halton, Bucks.’

summer walking tour which took from Chartres down theLoire as far as Marseille then on to Lyon from where hereturned to Paris.

The present watercolour dates from 1836 and was presumably drawn in Paris from earlier sketches. He recordsvisiting Windsor as early as 1829: ‘In 1829 my father wassuperintending some repairs at Windsor Castle for King GeorgeIV., which gave me an opportunity of seeing all over it. I wasdelighted with everything I saw, and made a few small sketchesthere’ (William Callow – an Autobiography, 1908, p.6). Eton isjust over the river Thames from Windsor.


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Edward Lear and the Coombe Family (nos. 46-50)

The Drewitt family were childhood friends of Lear living at Peppering House near Arundel, Sussex. Lear’s sisterSarah married Charles Street in 1822 and moved to nearArundel so Lear was a frequent visitor to the area. FannyDrewitt married George Coombe probably in 1831 andthey lived at Peppering House (see no.50). A group ofletters from Lear to the Coombes were rediscovered inthe 1990s and were at Christie’s on 29th June 1995. Theyare now in the Frederick Warne Archive. They provide a useful early record of Lear’s life and movements.

These drawings were originally included in an albumbelonging to the Coombe family which also included anumber of drawings and watercolours by members of the Coombe family, and especially George. Lear leftEngland in July 1837 and lived in Rome, apart from a visitto England in 1841, until 1845. He returned to London inMay 1845 and remained until December 1846. Three ofthese drawings are dated 1846 and one 15th April 1846 so presumably they were all executed during a visit toPeppering at that time. 1846 was a busy year for Lear withthree publications – Gleanings of the Menagerie and Aviaryat Knowsley Hall, his first A Book of Nonsense and his twovolume travel book Illustrated Excursions in Italy.

46Edward Lear (1812-1888)Study of an Eagle Owl

Signed on branch: E. Lear del. 1846.Pen and brown inksheet 22.8 by 16.7 cm., 8 ¾ by 6 ½ in.

Provenance:George and Fanny Coombe (née Drewitt), PepperingHouse, Sussex

Lear’s biographer Vivien Noakes has noted that Lear ‘was at his best when drawing majestic, unpretty birds like ravens and owls; he endowed them with sagaciouspersonalities, and it is tempting to wonder if Lear found a


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common bond with birds, for they too were at the mercy of unscrupulousmen’ (Vivien Noakes, Edward Lear – The Life of a Wanderer, 1968, p.40).Lear drew an eagle owl for Gould’s ‘Birds of Europe’, vol. 4 published in1837 so the present drawing may have been executed from memory.

Two drawings of Scops owls, executed in watercolour by Lear, one datedMay 1848 when he was on Corfu, were with Andrew Wyld in 2010 (seeW.S. Fine Art, exhibition catalogue, 2010, nos. 42 and 43).

47Edward Lear (1812-1888)‘Ye Owly Pusseycatte, a new Beast found in ye Island of New South Wales’

Inscribed with title lower leftWatercolour on laid paper13.5 by 8.9 cm., 5 ¼ by 3 ½ in.

Provenance:George and Fanny Coombe (née Drewitt), Peppering House, Sussex

This is likely to be the earliest drawing in which Lear combines the Owland the Pussycat, assuming it also dates to the mid 1840s. He is perchedon a branch smoking a churchwarden pipe and wearing a settler’s wide-awake hat with two peacock feathers attached and a smiling moonbeyond. The mention of New South Wales suggests this drawing dates toa similar period as an undated pen and ink drawing in the Pierpont MorganLibrary, New York entitled ‘Portraites of the inditchenous beestes of NewOlland’ which Vivien Noakes suggests was inspired by John Gould’s visit toAustralia in 1838 to work on Birds of Australia (see Vivien Noakes, EdwardLear 1812-1888, exhibition catalogue, 1986, p.180, no.90). New Hollandwas the historical name for Australia.

The famous poem ‘The Owl and the Pussy Cat’ was not written untilChristmas 1867 for Janet, the sick daughter of his friend Arthur Symonds,with whom Lear was staying in Cannes at the time. On 14th DecemberLear recorded in his diary that ‘their little girl is unwell – & all is sad’. Hereturned several days later taking ‘a picture for little Janet.’ This was theOwl and the Pussy Cat which was later published as part of NonsenseSongs in 1871.

The present drawing, like no. 49, was probably drawn for George andFanny Coombe’s daughter Fanny, born in the summer of 1832.


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48Edward Lear (1812-1888)On the Nile

Inscribed with key: On the Nile/1. Mr. Crocodile/2. Mrs Crocodile/3. Master Crocodile/4.Master John Crocodile/5. Mifs Mary Crocodile/6. The River Nile & its fishes/7. ThePiramids/8. The Palmtrees/9. The great Eagle./10. The peculiar Pelican/11. Theunpleasant snakes/12. The black man/13. The black woman/14. The smalle blacks/15.one of the TemplesPen and brown ink on laid paper watermarked: [1]836 and embossed with a fleur de lys11.2 by 18.6 cm., 4 ¼ by 7 ¼ in.


This is one of Lear’s earliest known Nonsense drawings, on paper watermarked1836. Vivien Noakes writes that ‘His earliest Nonsense, most of which now existsonly in copies, was done for the Drewitt family…. and it was probably with them thathe first realised that he could make people happy by making them laugh’ (see VivienNoakes, Edward Lear 1812-1888, exhibition catalogue, 1986, p.181). Vivien Noakes’s


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49Edward Lear (1812-1888)Study of two Ducks

Signed lower right: E. Lear del./apl. 15. 1846.Pen and brown ink on laid paper watermarked 1841Sheet 13.3 by 16.9 cm., 5 ¼ by 6 ½ in.


exhibition catalogue includes two Nonsense drawing done for the Coombe family,‘The animals going into the ark’ and ‘Ye Hippopotamouse or Gigantick Rabitte’ (op.cit., nos. 90b and c, p.180), with the latter inscribed ‘This large beaste doth belong to ye familie of Geo. Coombe, Esq.’

This drawing most closely relates however to ‘Portraites of the inditchenous beestesof New Olland’ (Pierpont Morgan Library, New York) which is on the same size sheetand is thought to date to circa 1838 (Noakes, op. cit., no.90a, ill. p.181).


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50Edward Lear (1812-1888)Peppering House, Burpham, Sussex

Signed lower right: Edward Lear. del. and dated lower left: .... 1846Pen and brown ink and wash14.3 by 20.7 cm., 5 ½ by 8 in.


Burpham is in the valley of the river Arun a couple of miles of Arundel. It was thehome of the Drewitt family and Lear first went there aged ten. Lear sketched at the

house and in the surrounding area (see Vivien Noakes, Edward Lear 1812-1888,exhibition catalogue, 1986, p.94, nos. 13b and c).

The earliest recorded landscape drawing by Lear is a view of Peppering House dated1829 in a private collection (see Charles Nugent, Edward Lear – The Landscape Artist,2009, p.3, ill. fig. 1).


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51Edward Lear (1812-1888)Windsor Castle from St Leonard’s Hill

Signed lower right: 1854./Ed.d Lear del and inscribed lower left: St. Leonard’s HillPen and brown ink and watercolour heightened with bodycolour on buff paper27.7 by 43.1 cm., 11 by 17 in.

Exhibited:London, British Institution, 1855, no.317

St Leonard’s Hill sits in the parish of Clewer on the outskirts of Windsor. The house,originally known as Forest Court, was built by Thomas Sandby for Countess

Waldegrave in the 1760s and was renamed Gloucester Lodge after his marriage tothe Duke of Gloucester in 1766. The house was bought by William Harcourt, 3rdEarl Harcourt in 1781 and remained in the Harcourt family until it was acquired by SirFrancis Barry in 1872. He transformed it into a French style chateau but on the deathof Lady Barry in 1924 the house was mostly demolished.

Lear’s patron Lady Waldegrave was married to George Harcourt of Nuneham Park,Oxfordshire which is likely to be his link to the house. Lear was in England fromOctober 1854 to December 1855 and this is one of his rare exhibited watercolours.


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52Edward Lear (1812-1888)The Monastery of St Sabbas the Sanctified, near Bethlehem

Inscribed lower right: Deir Mar Sabbas/May 1. 1858/Dir Mar Sabbas/(127) and furtherinscribed with colour notes34.9 by 49.9 cm., 13 ¾ by 19 ½ in.

Provenance:With Thos Agnew’s, London by 2004;With Andrew Wyld, his sale, Christie’s, 10th July 2012, lot 194, where bought by thepresent owner

This drawing dates from Lear’s trip to the Holy Land in the spring of 1858. He was atPetra on 13th April then continued to the Dead Sea and Masada reaching St Sabbas at

the end of the month. The Monastery of St Sabbas, or Mar Saba in arabic, overlooksthe Kidron valley in the West Bank half way between the Dead Sea and Jerusalem, justeast of Bethlehem. Founded in 483, it is considered one of the oldest inhabitedmonasteries in the world.

Lear mentions his visit to St Sabbas in a letter to his sister Ann, dated 21st May, andwrote that he executed ‘some good drawings’ despite the fact that ‘the whole place,even on May 1st was so like an oven that I felt as if I should be baked’ (R. Pitman,Edward Lear’s Tennyson, 1988, pp.88-89). A drawing of St Sabbas executed on 30thApril 1858 is in a private collection and another of a similar size to the present work,dated 30th April and numbered 122 is in the Houghton Library, Harvard.


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53Edward Lear (1812-1888)Cannes, France

Inscribed lower left: Cannes/8. April. 8. A.M. 1865, numbered 109 lower right andextensively inscribed with colour notes35.4 by 55.2 cm., 14 by 21 ¾ in.

In a letter of 22nd October 1858, the sculptor Thomas Woolner (1825-1892) toldEmily Tennyson that ‘I went to Holman Hunt’s the other evening and met Lear whoshewed me all his sketches done in the Holy Land; I think that they are the mostbeautiful he has ever done: if you have not seen them I hope you will, for they wouldgive much delight and interest you extremely…’ (A. Woolner, Thomas Woolner, R.A.,Sculptor and Poet: His Life in Letters, 1917, p.154).

Provenance:A. Davidson;with Agnew’s, London, by 1973;J.J. Carteer, Paris

Lear spent the winter of 1864-65 in Nice and from there he visited other Frenchcoastal towns. He preferred Cannes to Nice and subsequently spent three wintersthere. Another less finished view of Cannes, dated 6th April 1865, was sold atSotheby’s on 5th June 2008, lot 267


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54Edward Lear (1812-1888)Wadi Feiran with Gebel Serbal, Egypt

Signed with monogram lower right and inscribed lower left: Gebel SerbalWatercolour heightened with bodycolour10.3 by 20.6 cm., 4 by 8 in.

Gebel Serbal or Mount Serbal is a mountain located in Wadi Feiran in the southernSinai desert. It is the fifth highest mountain in Egypt standing at 2070 metres high andis now part of the St Catherine National Park.

This highly finished watercolour is a studio work based on sketches made at GebelSerbal in January 1849, his first visit to Egypt. After a week in Cairo, Lear sent off for

Mount Sinai with his friend John Cross. He caught his first glimpse of Gebel Serbal on 20th January but he didn’t stop to sketch continuing to Mount Sinai reaching StCatherine’s Monastery on the 27th. He returned to Cairo passing Gebel Serbal onthe 30th and stopped to make sketches.

A larger version of this view dated 1869, with an arab encampment in the foreground,was sold at Sotheby’s on 24th April 2012, lot 5 for £49,250.


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55

William Roxby Beverly (1811-1889)On the Coast near Scarborough, Yorkshire

Signed with initials lower left: Scrbro’ coast W.R.B.Watercolour heightened with scratching out14.2 by 23.1 cm., 5 ½ by 9 in.

Beverly was born into a family of northern actors and began his career as a scenepainter and actor for his father. He was scenic director at Covent Garden from 1853and also worked at Drury Lane from 1854 until 1884. His watercolours are oftenhighly coloured and his subjects are often beach scenes on the north-east coast ofEngland.


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56

John Frederick Lewis, R.A. (1804-1876)A Spanish Woman

Watercolour and black chalk heightened with bodycolour34.5 by 17.8 cm., 13 ½ by 7 in.

Provenance:The Artist John Phillip (1817-1867), his sale, Christie’s, 31st May 1867, lot 33;Mr Wyatt, Poole

Lewis was in Spain from 1832 until 1834. This watercolour was in the collection of the artistJohn `Spanish’ Phillip, R.A. (1817-1867) who visited Spain three times in the 1850s andpainted Spanish genre subjects. His figure studies are much influenced by Lewis.

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John Frederick Lewis, R.A. (1804-1876)Portrait of a European in Turkish Dress, probably Sir John Gardner Wilkinson

Watercolour over pencil and black chalk heightened with bodycolourSheet 37.3 by 27.3 cm., 14 ¾ by 10 ¾ in.

This intriguing portrait of a European man in Oriental dress by John Frederick Lewis is likelyto have been made during the artist’s decade-long sojourn in Egypt, 1841-51. During thistime, Lewis lived in a large wooden, Ottoman-style house, in a district of Cairo ‘far away’,according to William Thackeray, ‘from the haunts of European civilisation’. A prominentmember of the expatriate community during the mid-19th century was Sir John GardnerWilkinson (1797-1875), who by the 1840s had gained acclaim and fame for his ground-breaking studies in Egyptology. During and after his 12 year sojourn in Egypt between 1821and 1833, when he was based mainly at ancient Thebes (Luxor), Wilkinson published severalarticles and books on the subject. His most famous work was Manners and Customs of theAncient Egyptians, published in 1837, which established him as the ‘Father of BritishEgyptology’. Its description of ancient Egyptian society, with numerous illustrations, caught the popular imagination, and passed through many editions during the course of the 19thcentury. In 1839 his achievements were recognised with a knighthood.

Wilkinson revisited Egypt another four times between 1841 and 1856, and during the first ofthese return trips he met Lewis at least twice. On 8 December 1841, he was among thosegathered at Lewis’s house for a séance of the notorious Egyptian magician, Shaykh Abd al-Qadir al-Maghrabi. Later that month, a brief entry in Wilkinson’s Journal for 1841-42 reads:‘Saty 18 Dec dined with Col. Barnet at 6. Met Mr Lewis and Mr Coste’ (The Griffith Institute,University of Oxford, Wilkinson MSS. 1.69). In January 1844 both men are in Cairo andmoving in the same circles, since both are mentioned in a letter written by Bonomi to afriend. Later in the decade, Murray’s Handbook for Travellers in Egypt was published (1847)and in it Wilkinson, who was its author, writes of the drawings of Cairo, ‘this truly Eastern


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capital, which we may shortly hope to receive from the hand of Mr.Lewis’. Most pertinent of all is the evidence in a sale from Lewis’sstudio held in 1855, a few years after his return from Egypt, in whichlot 129 is ‘Sir Gardiner[sic] Wilkinson, in Oriental Costume’(Christie’s, 5 July 1855, bought by the dealer, William Vokins). Aportrait of ‘Sir G. Wilkinson’ is also listed in a letter of 14 April 1857from Lewis to another dealer, John Scott (Private Collection).Another similarly sized version of the portrait that is here identifiedas likely to be of Wilkinson, exists in the Ashmolean Museum,Oxford (WA.OA966), currently titled Study of a Seated OrientalMan, smoking. The figure is almost identical, but added, lower right,is a brass-mounted glass nargile (or hookah) from which the man issmoking.

The sitter in these two portraits is a fair-skinned man with a longflowing moustache and blue eyes, whose hooded eye-lids droopdown at the corners. He wears a red fez over a white skull-cap,over the top of which is the hood of his large cloak or wrap. Heseems to acknowledge this awkward accumulation of Oriental garbwith wry amusement, accentuating his youthful looks. Anotherportrait by Lewis shows an unidentified man with the same features,notably the bushy moustache and the heavily-lidded eyes, wearing a fez and more conventional Ottoman attire (with Spink & Son,London, 1985-86, titled An Englishman in Greek Dress), who, on the basis of the argument made here, is also likely to representWilkinson.

Wilkinson’s fame during his lifetime resulted in several knownportraits of him. Among these, made at around the same time asthe Lewis portraits, are drawings by William Brockedon, 1838, andAlfred, Count d’Orsay, 1839 (both, National Portrait Gallery, NPG2515(86) and NPG 4026(28)), and by Godfrey Thomas Vigne,1844 (Victoria and Albert Museum, SD.1156). These show a manwith very similar facial characteristics to the sitter in the portraits byLewis, most significantly the fine walrus moustache, with the endstwirled upwards slightly to a point. The most widely known portraitof Wilkinson is a painting by Henry Wyndham Phillips, Sir JohnGardner Wilkinson, aged 46, in Turkish Dress, 1844 (The NationalTrust: Calke Abbey, Derbyshire). His features, youthful, despite his46 years, are also strikingly similar to those of the man in the Lewisportraits. Moreover, his waistcoat and shirt, and his left arm cradlingthe Ottoman curved sabre known as a kilij, seem to be reflected inthe second portrait by Lewis (ex Spink’s), identified here as ofWilkinson.

We are grateful to Briony Llewellyn for this note with thanks toCharles Newton.


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58

Waller Hugh Paton (1828-1895)A Gate on a Path, Arran

Signed lower left: Arran/5th August 1864/Waller H. PatonWatercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour on oatmeal paperSheet 27.3 by 38.6 cm., 10 ¾ by 15 in.

Paton was born in Dunfermline, the son of a damask designer, for whom he workedas an assistant before becoming a pupil of J.A. Houston. As a young man, his family,including his brother the artist Sir Joseph Noel Paton, often spent summer holidayson Arran, where they would sketch. There is a tradition on Arran that ‘Paton’s

numerous landscapes so contributed to the popularity of the island for holiday makers,that he was allowed free lodging at the main hotel in Brodick’ (see June Baxter, WallerHugh Paton: a Scottish Landscape Painter, 1992). Ruskin and Millais were both friendsof his brother Noel and Paton has been described as the leading exponent of the Pre-Raphaelite landscape in Scotland. He exhibited views of Arran at the Royal ScottishAcademy from 1854. A view of a stream on Arran inscribed ‘Arran/19.th Sept. 1855’was with Guy Peppiatt Fine Art in 2009 (see 18th and 19th Century British Drawingsand Watercolours, exhibition catalogue, 2009, no.44).


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59

William Leighton Leitch (1804-1883)Cottage at Craigleith near Edinburgh

With studio stamp lower left and inscribed: Edin.r Nov.r 3d 1856 and inscribed on oldbacking: Craig LeithWatercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour on oatmeal paper21.7 by 32.1 cm., 8 ½ by 12 ½ in.

Born in Glasgow, Leitch was apprenticed to a lawyer before turning to painting in theearly 1820s. He painted scenery at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow from 1824 to 1826before moving to London in about 1828. In 1833 he was given the money by a

patron, the stockbroker Mr Anderden, to visit Italy and the continent. On his return inJuly 1837 he set up a successful drawing practice numbering Queen Victoria and othermembers of the Royal Family among his pupils.

Craigleith is a district of west Edinburgh famous for its sandstone which was used tobuild much of the new town in Edinburgh as well as Edinburgh Castle and HolyroodPalace.


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60

Edward Henry Fahey (1844-1907)Looking out to Sea

Signed lower left: E.H. FAHEY. 74Watercolour heightened with bodycolour36.7 by 26.3 cm., 14 ½ by 10 ¼ in.

Provenance:With Martyn Gregory, July 2003

Edward Fahey was the son of the portrait and landscape artistJames Fahey (1804-1885). He studied architecture before visitingItaly from 1866 to 1869. On his return, he entered the RoyalAcademy Schools to study painting. He exhibited at the RoyalAcademy and was a member of the Royal Institute of BritishWatercolourists from 1872.


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61

Anna Alma-Tadema (1865-1943)Eton College Chapel

Signed lower left: Anna Alma Tadema/September 1885Watercolour heightened with bodycolour52.7 by 36.3 cm., 20 ¾ by 14 ¼ in.

Provenance:Anonymous sale, Sotheby’s, 21st March 2007, lot 100;Private Collection

Exhibited:London, Royal Academy, 1886, no. 1280

This is a view of the chapel taken from the Colonnade of UpperSchool at the west end of School Yard. The chapel was built between1448 and 1482 in the late Gothic or Perpendicular style.

Anna Alma-Tadema was the second daughter of the Dutch-born artistSir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912) and his mother and step-mother were also artists. She painted mainly flowers, portraits andinteriors with great attention to detail like her father. The presentwatercolour, drawn when she was only twenty, was one of the fourworks she exhibited at the Royal Academy.

Her father’s biographer Helen Zimmern describes her as a ‘delicate,dainty artist who has inherited much of her father’s power forreproducing detail’ (see Helen Zimern, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema,R.A., 1902, p.8. A self-portrait in oil by her was sold at Sotheby’s on 12th November 2013, lot 15 for £98,500.


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INDEX

Alma-Tadema, A. 61

Barret, G. 20

Bentley, C. 42

Beverly, W.R. 55

Callow, W. 43-45

Constable, J. 16-17

Constable, L. 40

Cotman, J.S. 21

Cox, D. 32-38

Dayes, E. 9

De Wint, P. 26-27

Duncan, E. 41

Edridge, H. 18

Fahey, E.H. 60

Grignion, C. 2

Harding, J.D. 39

Hills, R. 22-23

Lear, E. 46-54

Leitch, W.L. 59

Lewis, J.F. 56-57

Middleton, J. 29

Paton, W.H. 58

Prosser, G.F. 31

Prout, S. 19

Pyne, J.B. 30

Rooker, M. 12-13

Rowlandson, T. 7

Sandby, P. 3

Smith, J. 10-11

Sunderland, T. 8

Taverner, W. 1

Thirtle, J. 28

Turner, J.M.W. 14-15

Turner of Oxford, W. 24-25

White Abbott, J. 4-6


british drawings and watercolours 2017

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