Archibald Thorburn An owl

Signed with initials l.r.: HSM, watercolour over traces of pencil on buff paper heightened with white24 x 9 cm.; 5 ¾ x 3 ¾ inchesFrame size 27 x 18.5 cm.; 9½ x 7 ½ inchesProvenanceThe Fine Art SocietyMarks’ earlier works were usually historical and literary, especially Shakespearian and sometimes humorous. However, he became increasingly interested in painting birds and this body of work was highly praised by John Ruskin. Marks had three exhibitions in six years at the Fine Art Society in London, the first of which was Birds in Bond Street in 1889. He was a frequent visitor to London Zoo where he was frequently approached by other curious visitors . He wrote in his preface to the 1890 catalogue: “The most common remark I hear is, “Ah pretty creature! Don’t he seem to know he’s sitting for his picture?” and concluded “… I hope I may be excused, and not held too eccentric, in preferring to converse with a parrot for one hour, rather than with a politician for two”. The Victoria and Albert Museum have a holding of his work.The artist was born in London, the fourth child of John Isaac Marks, a solicitor. He studied in London at the Royal Academy Schools and later in Paris. He exhibited at the Royal Academy and elsewhere from 1853. He was elected ARA in 1870 and became a full RA in 1878.

Inscribed verso: Primrose Hill coloured on the spot by/Girtin, watercolour over pencil on oatmeal paper.19.7 x 48.7 cm.; 7 ¾ x 19 inchesProvenanceArthur Boney, his sale, Sotheby’s, 7 October 1947, lot 34, bought by P. & D. Colnaghi & Co. , London;Ray Livingston Murphy (1923-1953), New York, by 1950, his sale, Christie’s, 19 November 1985, lot 35; Robert Tear, OBE (1939-2011), his sale, Sotheby’s, 9 July 2014, lot 189;With Guy Peppiatt Fine Art;Private collection, U.K. until 2024LiteratureT. Girtin and D. Loshak, The Art of Thomas Girtin, 1954, no. 416, p. 191;G. Smith, Thomas Girtin (1775-1802): An Online CatalogueArchive and Introduction to the Artist, TG1761ExhibitedNew Haven, Yale University Art Gallery, Prospects, 1950, no. 18., pl. 9b;Guy Peppiatt Fine Art, London, British Drawings and Watercolours, 2015, no. 17This panoramic landscape has been identified as showing Primrose Hill in north London, on the basis of an inscription on the back of the drawing, and Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak consequently dated it to 1800–1801. The area was then undeveloped. It did not become a place of leisure and recreation until well into the nineteenth century, since when the rapid expansion of the city northwards changed the appearance of the landscape so greatly that it may never be possible to confirm the identification of the view with certainty.The work may well have been coloured on the spot, as the inscription suggests, as it is worked in a limited palette without much foreground detail.

Charles Gore (1729-1807)A view of the East front of Arundel Castle, West Sussex, seen from the Bowling GreenInscribed l. r.: Arundel Castle taken from the Platform or/Bowling Green by Charles Gore Esq 1781 and indistinctly inscribed in pencil u. r.: Arundel Castle Sufsex/1781Watercolour over touches of pencil on laid paper, with a Whatman watermark19.6 by 49 cm., 7 ¾ by 19 ¼ inchesProvenanceIolo Williams (1890-1962); And by descent until sold Sotheby's, London, 13 July 1989, lot 5; Private collection;With Guy Peppiatt Fine ArtThe bowling green is the name for the square earthworks located, with the fishponds, on the east side of the castle. They were probably made originally to improve the castle’s defences during the Civil War. Used as a bowling green in eighteenth century, as shown in the drawing by Charles Gore, today a rose garden can be found here. The Hon. Charles Gore was the son of a Lincolnshire landowner and educated at Westminster. He married a wealthy heiress of a shipbuilding company and learnt to draw and design ships. Gore travelled extensively in Europe, sketching with the German artist Jacob Philipp Hackert (1737-1807). Gore copied marine oils, completed the unfinished drawings of other artists, and also developed his own style having acquired an expert knowledge of the sea. His interest in classical antiquities led Charles Gore to join Hackert and Richard Payne Knight on their expedition to Sicily from April to June 1777.In 1779 Gore returned to England and became a member of the Dilettanti Society in 1781. He painted a series of panoramic views of Sussex including the current drawing. The family returned to the Continent in 1782 and he settled in Weimar in 1791 with his daughter Eliza. Examples of Gore's work can be found in the British Museum, the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich and the Goethe-Nationalmuseum, Weimar.

Signed l.r.: W HUNT, watercolour with bodycolour on artist’s board16 x 20.3 cm; 6 1/4 x 8 inchesPrimroses were a favourite subject of Hunt’s, and one which he frequently exhibited in the 1840s and 1850s.Hunt was born with a deformation of his legs which restricted his movement and he worked mainly from the studio, as painting outside was difficult for him. He specialised in carefully drawn smale-scale still lifes like this one as a result and pioneered new techniques of watercolour, using stipple techniques in subtle colour combinations and achieving a brightness of colour by overlaying washes over white gouache.

Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827)A sheep in wolf’s clothingPen and brown ink and watercolour over traces of pencil 17 x 14.2 cm.; 6 ¾ x 6 ½ inchesFrame size 32.5 x 29 cm.; 12 ½ x 11 ½ inchesProvenanceThe Leger Galleries Ltd., August 1961;Private collection U.K. until 2021ExhibitedThe Leger Galleries Ltd, August 1961This amusing, mildly erotic, drawing, which dates from c. 1805-1820, illustrates a subject which Rowlandson drew often throughout his career. The young beauty donning men’s clothes is clearly the dominant figure in the composition which shows an ageing man ogling the progress of her toilette from around the doorway and an old crone assisting her. There is ambiguity in the subject which may show an elopement or, more likely, an actress preparing for the stage.In late eighteenth century comedies an actress who dresses as a man to meet her lover is a frequent plot device. The present drawing may represent either such a scene or an actress in her dressing room putting on her costume in preparation for this. The bottle lends weight to the possibility of this being a theatrical subject which may be compared with the 1810 print ‘Dramatic demireps at their morning rehearsal’ which contains numerous bottles [link].A further example of Rowlandson tackling a similar subject can be found in ‘dressing for a masquerade’ in the collection of the Barber Institute [link], a subject after which a print was made in 1788, ‘Cyprians; Dressing for a Masquerade’.

Thomas Rowlandson (1757-1827)Soldiers on parade, FrancePen and grey ink and watercolour over traces of pencil, inscribed: Depot de Gardes Françoise14.4 x 23.4 cm.; 5 33/4 x 9 ¼ inchesProvenanceRichard Green LtdRowlandson frequently painted military subjects and here he draws English soldiers standing to attention while passers-by walk past unperturbed carrying on their daily activities. The dépôt de Gardes françaises was the Parisian barracks for the elite regiment of troops which protected the French Royal family and was disbanded in 1789 when the soldiers joined the Revolutionary troops.

Henry Lamb (Australian/British 1883 – 1960)Inscribed l.r.: Edwin John, pencilProvenanceThe Estate of the artist;Davis & Langdale Company, New York (DLA 3328);Where purchased by Sarah John (1946 - 2024);Bequeathed to the present ownerThis drawing dates from c. 1913-1915. Edwin John (1905-1978) was the fourth son of Augustus John and Ida and was born in Paris. After a brief career as a middleweight boxer he became a watercolourist. He inherited the estate of his aunt Gwen and did much to secure her posthumous reputation.Henry Lamb was born in Adelaide, Australia in 1883. He studied medicine in Manchester before abandoning it in1905 to train as an artist. At twenty-two he left for London to study under Augustus John and William Orpen at their Chelsea Art School at 72 Flood Street. They held weekly classes in life drawing and painting, still life, figure composition, landscape and decorative painting.He was a talented student and he and John formed a strong friendship. For a while Lamb imitated John’s bohemian manner of dress, wore gold earrings and grew his hair longer. He also began to draw like John. Lamb was a frequent visitor to the John household into 1930s and became close to Dorelia (with whom he had an affair) and to the children who he encouraged to draw.This drawing also has echoes of the work of Stanley Spencer. Spencer (like John) had studied at the Slade from 1908-1912 under Henry Tonks. Lamb and Spencer met in 1913 and were close friends for a while. Another drawing of Edwin from this period was with Piano Nobile in 2024 (Augustus John and the First Crisis of Brilliance, 26 April –13 July 2024, no. 12).

Cecil Arthur Hunt, RWS (1873-1965)Mount Etna, SicilySigned in pencil l.l.: C.A. Hunt, watercolour, inscribed on label attached to backboard: From Cecil & Phyllis Hunt/Christmas 1954/Etna9 x 13,5 cm.; 3 ½ x 5 5/8 inchesFrame size 15 x 29 cm.; 6 x 11 3/8 inchesProvenanceAgnew’s;Private collection UKHunt and his wife, Phyllis made many trips to Sicily, an island which inspired the artist. They always stayed at the Casa Cuseni, the villa in Taormina belonging to his friend and art critic, R. H. Kitson, the painter and critic, who he first met at Cambridge. Casa Cuseni is now a museum and is, perhaps, best known for its dining room designed by Sir Frank Brangwyn (1867 – 1956).

Signed and dated l.r.: W. Callow.1833, watercolour over traces of pencil with scratching outProvenancePrivate collection U.K. until 2026This fine example of Callow’s work dates from the time he was sharing a studio in Paris with Thomas Shotter Boys at 19 Rue de Bouloi near the Louvre. He visited England during the summer and presumably travelled through Dover.

John Stanton Ward, CBE, R.A. (1917 – 2006)Still life with a vase of wildflowersSigned in pencil l.r.: John Ward, watercolour over pencil18.7 x 56 cm.; 7 ¼ x 22 inchesProvenancePrivate collection, U.K., until 2026