Thomas Rowlandson The elopement

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.

Inscribed l.l.: TRENANT SIR E. BULLERS., pen and grey ink and watercolour over traces of pencil14 x 23.3 cm; 5 ½ x 9 1/8 inchesProvenanceJ.A.D. Bridger, his sale at Sotheby’s London, 24 January 1951, lot 150; bought by Thomas Agnew & Sons Ltd.; H.M. Langton; Spink & Son Ltd., K3/1993;Exhibited Thomas Agnew & Sons Ltd., 80th Annual Exhibition of Water-colour Drawings (January – March 1953), no. 85Rowlandson worked extensively in the West Country early in his career and made annual tours. He usually stayed with his friend and patron Matthew Michell, a banker, who had an estate at Hengar near Bodmin in Cornwall.Sir Edward Buller, 1st Baronet (24 December 1764 – 15 April 1824) was an officer in the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He was MP for East Looe in Cornwall from 1802-1820. He lived at Trenant Park in East Cornwall.

Pen and grey ink and watercolour over pencil11 x 17.2 cm.; 4 ¼ x 6 ¾ inchesProvenance: Sotheby’s, London, 29 October 1964, lot 248; Ann Spokes Symonds, OxfordAnn Symonds worked for the Fine Art Society in 1960s.

Pen and brown and grey ink and watercolour over traces of pencil, bears inscription and date22 x 36 cm.’ 8 ½ x 14 1/8 inchesProvenanceMaurice Dear, Southampton;Private collection, U.K., until 2025Rowlandson drew boating scenes such as this one on many occasions, this work probably dates from c. 1810-1820. The river is teeming with a variety of craft and passengers and the nearby pub doing a roaring trade.

Pen and grey ink and watercolour and pencil27.4 x 43.1 cm.; 10 3⁄4 x 17 inchesProvenanceChristie’s, London, 21 November 2002, lot 20; where bought by the previous owner;Private collection, U.K., until 2022The present work is a significant example of Rowlandson’s landscape draughtsmanship. It probably dates from the same time as a smaller view of Glastonbury showing the abbey from the main street and marketplace of the town in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum (Dyce Collection) which was etched by the artist as plate 24 of Rowlandson's World in Miniature, No. 2, 1816. Rowlandson has used a certain amount of artistic license in his interpretation of the topography.

Inscribed on original label now attached to backboard: General Distant View of the Carnarvonshire Mountains, seen from the road beyond Llangerniew,/going by the Vale of the Elwyn from St Asaph to Llanrwst-Principal in this Towering Group, are Moel Siabod, Snowdon, The Glyders/ and Trevaon Denbighshire, watercolour over pencil.13 x 20.8 cm.; 5 1/8 x 8 ¼ inchesProvenanceGeorge Greville, 2nd Earl of Warwick (1746-1816), no. 17, part of an album sold at Sotheby’s, 17 June 1936;With Leger Galleries, 1980; Christie’s, London, 20 November 1984, lot 113, where bought by a private collector, until 2024Smith seems to have been fascinated by the Welsh countryside and dated drawings, often inscribed ‘taken on the spot’, point to visits nearly every year from 1784-1798, after his return from Italy.The artist was born in Cumberland and patronised by 2nd Earl of Warwick who sponsored his travels to Italy in 1776 and whose name became the artist’s sobriquet. Smith spent five years in Rome and Naples, befriending William Pars and Thomas Jones, in whose Memoirs he is frequently referenced. He travelled home in 1781 through Switzerland with Francis Towne and was among the most admired watercolourists of his day.

ABPPaul Sandby, R.A. (1731- 1809)The River Wye at New Weir, HerefordshireSigned in brushpoint l.l.: P Sandby RA, watercolour and bodycolour, with old labels attached to backboard (illegible)ProvenanceThe Fine Art Society, London;Private collection, U.K.The Longstone can be seen prominently on the left of the composition above the Wye where fishermen and rowers are enjoying the river. Sandby includes the busy iron manufactory on the opposite bank. Many of the tourists who flocked to the river Wye to enjoy its picturesque scenery and to climb Yat Rock also included a visit to the forge, and images of this stretch of the river often include depictions of the lime kilns, stone quarries, and iron and tin works that dotted its banks. Paul Sandby and his brother Thomas (1717-1798) began their careers making maps and military drawings in Scotland. Founder members of the Royal Academy in 1768, they both taught in military establishments and Paul was recognised as the leading topographical artist of his time. The artist toured South Wales with Sir Joseph Banks and others in 1773 which resulted in his series of aquatints of published in 1775-1776. His detailed watercolours of the picturesque landscape and the popular prints fuelled the nascent tourism attracting visitors to the Wye Valley.

Pencil9 x 15 cm.; 3 ½ x 6 inchesProvenanceThe artist's studio sale, Christie's, 8 - 15 May 1874, bt. by Thomas Agnew & Sons Ltd. (23366);J.M.M., a Christmas present from C. 1962

Two, each signed l.l.and l.r., each inscribed l.c.: F. Concolr./life and F. Ocelot.of.Albany./Life, watercolour over pencilEach approx. 25 x 17.5 cm.; 9 ¾ x 6 7/8 inchesThe artist was self-taught and specialised in drawings of animals and field sports.From a wealthy Quaker family, Howitt took up art professionally when he encountered financial difficulties and became a drawing master in Ealing.He married Thomas Rowlandson's sister Elizabeth in 1779 and was part of Rowlandson's circle together with George Morland, Henry Wigstead and J.R. Smith.

Signed and dated l.l.: David Cox. 1836, watercolour over pencil with scratching out18 x 26 cmIn the summer of 1836 Cox spent a few weeks at Rowsley, painting at Haddon Hall. He made several watercolours of elegant figures in seventeenth century costume strolling on the terrace there to which the present work relates. Although the present work does not appear to be of Haddon, it fits in with this period of his oeuvre.