Joshua Cristall

Signed and dated l.r.: Joshua Cristall.1816, numbered l.l.: 18, watercolour over traces of pencil with gum arabic, stopping out and scratching out 24.2 x 16.6 cm; 9 9/16 x 6 1/2 inches Provenance Davis & Long Company New York, 1980; Private collection, New York until 2019 Exhibited David & Long Company, ‘English Watercolours’, November 1-29 1980, no. 11, illus. Cristall’s charming sketches of rustic labourers at work provide an interesting record of rural labour in the early nineteenth century when the land was changing fast as a result of the Industrial Revolution. Much of his work depicted country people; their natural dignity and simplicity were qualities he found appealing. Encouraged by the popularity of his country figure studies he exhibited many such works. He was a founder member of the Society of Painters in Watercolour in 1804 and his work is included in the collections of many major U.K. museums.

Watercolour 11.7 x 18.2 cm.; 4 ½ x 7 1/8 inches Provenance George Clive, Herefordshire, by descent; Spink; Sir John Gielgud, purchased from the above, his sale at Sotheby’s, London, 5 April 2001, lot 21

Signed and dated l.l.: J Cristall 1829, watercolour over traces of pencil with scratching out and touches of gum arabic 37.8 x 28.2 cm.; 14 7/8 x 11 1/8 inches Provenance Abbott and Holder Ltd.; Mrs Brian McQuade, Chertsey; By descent until 2023 Exhibited Society of Painters in Water-Colours, 1829, no. 62 or 219 or 325 (Cristall exhibited 3 works entitled Fern Burners, Coppett Hill, Goodrich, Herefordshire in 1829) This is a particularly fine watercolour depicting the fern gatherers on Coppett Hill, whom Cristall liked to draw. The bracken on the hill was cut, as shown in the present work, and the stubble then burnt, releasing potash to encourage the next year’s growth. The bracken was used for making soap, often in cauldrons on the hillside, as litter in pigsties and for thatching. Coppett Hill rises steeply out of Goodrich village, with woodland turning into stony bracken before a long descent to the river Wye below Coldwell Rocks. The hill has views of the Brecon and Black Mountains in one direction and the Malvern Hills in the other. It was a favourite walk of the artist, who lived from 1823 at Granton Cottage in Goodrich, which had fine views of Coppett Hill.