Landscapes (SOLD)

Inscribed with colour notes l.r., signed with initials, inscribed and dated on reverse of original backing: Downstone Rock from Saugh Mill.Devon./JWA Septr. 21.1831,/No. 18., pen and grey ink and watercolour with gum arabic, on original washline mount21 x 16.7 cm; 8 ¼ x 6 ½ inchesProvenance : With Andrew Wyld, London; The Flannery collection, UK, and by descent until 2018.Abbott was one of the best amateur watercolourists of the late eighteenth century. An Exeter surgeon and apothecary, he lived in the city until 1825. He exhibited paintings at the Royal Academy from 1793 and received contemporary acclaim for the style of his work. The artist John Downman said that Abbott ‘prefers his drawings before his paintings, as they are done with more spirit’. 1In 1825 Abbott inherited Fordland, a Devon estate, from his uncle James White, an Exeter barrister and non-conformist, who was a close friend of Francis Towne. Abbott became a patron and pupil of Towne’s, and his linear style shows the artist’s influence. After he moved to Fordland, Abbott devoted himself to drawing.This view appears to show Dewerstone Rock seen from Shaugh Mill, near Shaugh Prior, on Dartmoor. Shaugh Mill was used for papermaking and stood by a stream of spring water. 2 In 1790 the papermaker was Richard Howard. It appears to have been a popular spot for artists to record, and was painted by J. F. Lewis and J. M. W. Turner amongst others. Another view by Abbott entitled Downstone Rock from a different aspect is in the collection of the Provost and Fellows of Eton College.1. Joseph Farington, The Diary of Joseph Farington, republished 1978–1984; entry for 26 June 1804; vol. VI, p. 2362.2. A. H. Shorter and R. L. Hills, Studies on the History of Papermaking in Britain, 1993. I am grateful to April Marjoram for her comments about this view.

Inscribed verso: Near Low wood July 16/Evening light on the [?]position from the Right, signed with initials, inscribed and dated on label attached to backboard: On Winandermere [sic] near Lowwood./JWA. July 16.1791, pen and grey ink and watercolour, original hand drawn mount attached to backboard18.6 x 23.9 cm; 7½ x 9⅜ inchesProvenance: Thomas Agnew & Sons Ltd, London, no. 14336; The Flannery collection, UK, and by descent until 2018.This drawing shows Windermere near Low Wood, drawn in a gentle evening light which catches on the trees; a building on the left with a boat moored in front of it and slates stacked up at the base of the tree on the right. It seems most probable that the building is the Low Wood Inn. Nine years later, Low Wood Bay is where Dorothy Wordsworth’s Grasmere journal begins (May 14 1800. Wm & John set off into Yorkshire after dinner at 1/2 past 2 o’clock – cold pork in their pockets. I left them at the turning of the Low-wood bay under the trees…).1From the end of the eighteenth century, the numerous slate quarries of the area had begun to increase production to supply the expanding industrial areas of the north of England. The slates would have been transported by boat, using craft like the one moored on the lake in this watercolour.John White Abbott was a surgeon and apothecary in Exeter for about twenty years. Drawing was his hobby, and he was the best-known pupil of Francis Towne (1739–1816). He exhibited oil paintings regularly from 1793 to 1805 at the Royal Academy as an honorary exhibitor (a nonprofessional artist). His uncle James White, an Exeter barrister and non-conformist, was a close friend of Towne’s and accompanied him on his Lake District tour of 1786.Abbott’s only known tour of any length outside Devon was to Scotland and the Lake District five years later. A series of eighty dated drawings from 13 June (York Minster) to 28 July (Glastonbury Abbey), record him in the Lakes during the second week of July 1791. He approached from the direction of Carlisle (7 July), spent two days around Ullswater, and was at Rydal on 10 July. After a couple of days in Grasmere and Windermere (12 July), he sketched in Borrowdale on 13 July before turning southwards, but was on Windermere again on 16 July, when the present work was drawn. Abbott travelled to Liverpool the following day and then on to the Peak District in Derbyshire, where he stayed from 21 to 23 July.Although it is not known exactly when Towne taught Abbott, it has been suggested that the two must have been in contact in the later part of the 1780s when Abbott was in his twenties, as the work Towne produced on his Lake District tour appears to have had a strong influence on Abbott’s early style, and on the work he drew during his own tour of the Lakes five years later. 2In 1825 Abbott inherited his uncle’s fortune and his property, Fordland, in Devon, and retired from the medical profession to devote himself exclusively to his painting, although he did not exhibit at the Royal Academy after 1822.1. Dorothy Wordsworth, The Grasmere Journals, republished 1987, p. 18.2. T. Wilcox, ‘Francis Towne and his friends’, exhibition catalogue, 2005, no. 29.

Inscribed l.l.: Fordland/June 5/1841, pen and grey ink and wash over traces of pencil26.5 x 21.5 cm.; 10 3/8 x 8 ½ inchesAbbott was one of the best amateur watercolorists of the late eighteenth century. An Exeter surgeon and apothecary, he lived in the city until 1825. He exhibited paintings at the Royal Academy from 1793 and received contemporary acclaim for the style of his work. The artist John Downman said that ‘he prefers his drawings before his paintings, as they are done with more spirit’ (J. Farington, Diary 26 June 1804; vol. VI, p. 2362).In 1825 the artist inherited the Devon estate of Fordland from his uncle James White a barrister and non-conformist. He delighted in drawing the woodland on his estate, developing the style he learnt from Francis Towne, his drawing master, with sophisticated handling of light and shade in the depiction of trees in monochrome.

KT442Pen and grey ink and grey washes24.8 x 31.5 cm.; 9 ¾ x 12 3/8 inchesProvenanceCyril and Shirley Fry until 2021A surgeon and apothecary in Exeter for about twenty years, drawing was John White Abbott’s hobby, and he was the best-known pupil of Francis Towne (1739-1816). He exhibited oil paintings regularly from 1793 to 1805 at the Royal Academy as an honorary exhibitor (a non-professional artist).Peamore is an historic country estate near Exeter where White Abbott and Towne made a number of watercolours. The present work has similarities with a drawing of the quarry at Peamore dated 1796 in the collection of the British Museum (2012,7037.1). The Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, have a drawing of Peamore dating from 1802 with similar leaning trees.The Devon topographer Rev. John Swete wrote in 1789, ‘ the chief beauty of Peamore lies in the undulating form of its grounds, rising and falling in the regular alternation of hills and dales; in its woods, groves and trees and in a quarry which surrounded by a thicket of high towering oaks, beech, etc., is one of the grandest and most romantic objects in the country’ Travels in Georgian Devon: The Illustrated Journals of the Reverend John Swete, 1789–1800, edited by Todd Gray and Margery Rowe (Halsgrove, 1997), Vol. 1, p. 56.Peamore is about five miles south of Exeter and visitors and artists were permitted to explore its grounds. From 1774 until 1795 it belonged to the Coxe family until the death of Henry Hippisley Coxe when it was sold to Samuel Kekewich, in whose family it remained until 1947.In 1825 White Abbott inherited the Devon estate of Fordland from his uncle James White. He delighted in drawing the woodland on his estate, developing the style he learnt from Francis Towne his drawing master with sophisticated handling of light and shade in the depiction of trees in monochrome.

Inscribed verso: Nutwell.Oct.24th 1796, pen and grey ink and watercolour over traces of pencil11.2 x 18 cm.; 4 3/8 x 7 1/8 inchesProvenanceAbbot and Holder Ltd.;Private collection U.K. until 2024Abbott was one of the best amateur watercolourists of the late eighteenth century. A surgeon and apothecary, he lived in Exeter until 1825. He exhibited paintings at the Royal Academy from 1793, receiving contemporary acclaim for the style of his work which owes much to his teacher Francis Towne. The artist John Downman said that ‘he prefers his drawings before his paintings, as they are done with more spirit’ (J. Farington, Diary 26 June 1804; vol. VI, p. 2362).Nutwell Court is in east Devon near Lympstone overlooking the Exe estuary. Owned by Sir Francis Henry Drake, 5th Bt. (1723-1794) the estate was planted with fig trees in 1752, cedars in 1754, and laurels and evergreen oaks in 1755. By 1756 there were grape vines, a raspberry tree, a strawberry tree, a weeping willow, plane trees, cypresses, Newfoundland firs, larch trees, and a cistus. Further planting followed with black poplars, apricot trees, orange trees, Weymouth pines, myrtle and Scotch pines. Nutwell Court was built by 2nd Lord Heathfield (d. 1813) who discouraged visitors.

Inscribed beneath in brown ink: At Eastbourne 1848, watercolour over pencil with a brown line border, framed in a wooden moulding(Image) 12.5 x 20 cm; 4 7/8 x 7 3/4 inchesProvenanceSpink, 1980The Italian artist, born in Cremona, settled in England in 1803, having travelled in Greece and Egypt with William Wilkins, R.A.His work has often been confused with that of Constable, particularly his coastal views which look quite similar.Examples of his work may be found at the British Museum, the V & A, Brighton Art Gallery and in several other museum collections.

Signed with initials and dated l.r.: EA/1904, watercolour and bodycolour over traces of pencil on rough brown paperImage size 17.5 x 22.8 cm.; 6 7/8 x 9 inches, sheet size 22.5 x 27.5 cm.; 8 7/8 x 10 ¾ inchesFrame size 37.5 x 43 cm.; 14 ¾ x 16 7/8 inchesProvenancePrivate collection. U.K., until 2020Alexander studied at the Royal Institution, Edinburgh from 1887-8, and in Paris with the sculptor Emmanuel Frémier.In 1887-8 the artist travelled to Tangier with his father and fellow artists Pollock Nisbet and Joseph Crawhall. He returned to Egypt in 1892, after his artistic studies, and lived on a houseboat on the Nile for 4 years, painting in the desert. This drawing appears to be of North Africa, the evocative rooftops an engaging subject on the characteristic oatmeal paper he often used.In 1902 Alexander was elected an associate of the Royal Scottish Academy becoming a full member in 1913. He exhibited widely including at the Royal Scottish Academy, Royal Academy, Fine Art Society, Royal Watercolour Society and the Leicester Galleries.Alexander’s work is held in the Tate Gallery, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Dundee Art Gallery and by Fife Council.

KT455Auguste-Paul-Charles Anastasi (French 1820-1869)Etude de ciel, Le Berry, FranceOil on paper laid down on canvas, inscribed with title on studio sale label attached to stretcher: Etude de ciel/Berry, further inscribed on a second later label: ARTUS/99/Étude De Ciel, stamped with the artist’s seal on the stretcher24 x 38.5 cm.; 9 ½ x 15 ¼ inchesProvenanceThe artist’s studio sale, Durand-Ruel, 3 - 8 March 1873, no. 132;Private collection, France until 2021This sky study was done in the Berry region in the Loire Valley. Pin marks can be seen in the lower corners of the paper on which it is painted.The son of a painter of Greek origin, Auguste Paul Charles Anastasi was a pupil of Paul Delaroche and Camille Corot in Paris in the1840s. He began his career painting landscapes in the forest of Fontainebleau, joining the Barbizon school group.Anastasi regularly exhibited at the Paris Salons in 1850s and 1860s, showing landscapes of the countryside around Paris, Normandy, the Roman Campagna and Naples. He also worked as an engraver. In 1870 Anastasi became blind.His work can be found in many museums including the Musée d’Orsay, Paris and numerous French regional collections.

Signed and dated l.l.: Ann Baring delt 1789, watercolour over pencil on laid paper watermarked with the Strasburg Lily34.8 x 47.9 cm; 13 5/8 x 18 7/8 inchesProvenancePrivate collection, U.K., until 2019This charming work shows Ann Baring’s watercolour style as similar to that of her fellow Devonian Francis Towne and she may be presumed to have been one of his pupils. The watercolour shows several similarities to Towne’s work, especially the trees in shade immediately above the white cow, and the figure and his donkey crossing the bridge. This would appear to be a composition drawn from elements learned from Towne. The strong shadow cast by the tree trunk in the right, and the fussy foreground plants in the bottom right corner are also characteristic of this kind of Towne. She is also known to have painted oils.Ann Baring, who lived in Devon all her life, was the daughter of John Baring, (1730-1816) of Mount Radford House, Devon, an English merchant banker and M.P. and the eldest son of Johann Baring (1697–1748), a clothier from Bremen in Germany who had settled in Exeter, where he built up a large business and obtained English citizenship. Her mother was Ann Parker, the daughter of Francis Parker of Blagdon near Paignton in Devon. She is known to have worked in Ireland as well as Devon. A Miss Baring commissioned a watercolour from Towne of Lago Maggiore in 1781 (Tate Gallery, Francis Towne online catalogue FT 350).After John Baring’s father's death in 1748, he inherited the large family cloth business in Exeter. Together with his younger brother Francis, he extended his commercial interests to London and set up the partnership of John and Francis Baring, of which he was the senior partner. He soon retired from activity in London for Devon and left the running of the London business to Francis, under whose guidance it evolved into Barings Bank. In 1802, Barings and Hope & Co. were called on to facilitate the largest land purchase in history, the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the area of the USA.John Baring founded banks in Plymouth and Exeter and was elected Member of Parliament for Exeter in 1776. He was also appointed Sheriff of Devon for 1776. He retired from Parliament in 1802. His daughter Ann had three sisters, Elizabeth, Charlotte and Margaret and two brothers.The Baring daughters and their cousins were prominent in Exeter society and were known in the circle that included Towne’s friends and customers. In 1786 Ann’s sister Charlotte married John Short of Bickham, one of Towne’s patrons (see FT240), and in 1790 Frances, daughter of Charles Baring, married William (see FT876), the son of Towne’s musician friend William Jackson, whose house, Cowley Place, was very near to Barton Place. In 1791 Frances’s sister Jaquetta married Sir Stafford Northcote of Pynes, another nearby estate where Towne had sketched (FT143). Charles Baring’s daughter Lucy was a close friend of Frances, daughter of John Merivale, Towne’s major patron, and after Lucy’s death in 1815 Frances married her widower, John Lewis Mallet of the Audit Office.I am grateful to Richard Stephens for his comments on this watercolour.

Signed, inscribed and dated l.l.: Reginald Barrett./Gwalior./1911, watercolour over traces of pencil, in a gilt frame23.4 x 15.8 cm.; 9 ¼ x 6 ¼ inchesFrame size 38 x 29 cm.; 14 7/8 x 11 ½ inchesProvenanceHartnoll and Eyre;Private collection, U.K. until 2020Barrett was a painter of landscapes and architectural subjects. He had been articled to the architect Norman Shaw and then studied in Paris under Lefèbvre and Bouguereau. He worked as an illustrator for The Graphic and The Daily Graphic. He was an inveterate traveller in the Middle East and Italy and was commissioned by Queen Victoria to paint her favourite view in Florence. From 1885 he exhibited at the Royal Academy, New Watercolour Society and New Gallery, becoming AWRS in 1901 and RWS in 1913. He was also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.Barrett’s one-man shows A Collection of Watercolour Drawings Illustrating India and Egypt was held at the Fine Art Society in 1894 and Watercolours of India at the Leicester Galleries, London in 1912.The fort at Gwalior was the favourite building of Babur, the first Mughal emperor of India.

Signed l.r.: C. Bentley, watercolour over traces of pencilProvenanceL.G. Duke; Spink & Son. Ltd.

Signed and dated l.r.: F. Blake 1849, inscribed on original mount in pencil: And on the darkest clouds of woe/he sets his covenanted bow/Patterdale, inscribed on original backboard in ink: Patterdale Churchyard by F. Blake and Blake 3665, watercolour over traces of pencil with scratching out, a Vokins framing stamp on the backboard, a label inscribed Drawing Room attached to the backboardProvenanceBy descent in the Blake family to Major-General Mark Bond, OBE (1922-2017), Moigne Combe, Dorset;By family descent at Moigne Combe until 2019Fanny (Frances) Blake was the sister of Frederick Rudolph Blake of Welwyn, Hertfordshire, the great-grandfather of H.M.G. Bond and E.M.G. Williams.She was an extremely talented pupil of Peter de Wint and is singled out for special mention in the ‘Gentleman’s Magazine’ of 1851, in a review of an exhibition of the work of amateur watercolorists as an ‘accomplished artist, admirable for truth, completeness and delicacy’.This watercolour is a record of the previous church of St Patrick at Patterdale which dated from the 14th century and was extensively rebuilt around 1620, known to Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey and Turner. A new church was built at Patterdale by Salvin in the early 1850s after a storm destroyed the building depicted here. The ancient yew tree in this work, thought to have dated back to the Norman Conquest, was destroyed in a storm in 1883.

Signed with monogram l.r., watercolour over traces of pencil with scratching out, touches of bodycolour and white25 x 35 cm.; 9 7/8 x 13 ¾ inchesThis romantic landscape is probably a view near Penkill Castle, a few miles northeast of Girvan in south Ayrshire which the artist inherited in 1865. She and her lover William Bell Scott spent their summers at Penkill, the castle perched on a promontory overlooking Penwhapple burn. The nearby Firth of Clyde was visible from the castle battlements.

Watercolour17 x 24.6 cm.; 6 33/4 x 9 ¾ inchesProvenancePietro Raffo until 2022£3200Brabazon greatly admired the work of J.M.W.Turner. This is a copy after a watercolour in the Turner Bequest (D32168 TB CCCXVI 31). It is thought to show shipping moored off the Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore or the Riva degli Schiavoni, Venice, done in 1840. Ian Warrell has suggested that it is part of a group which probably derived from Canaletto’s Bacino compositions (I. Warrell, Turner and Venice, 2003, p. 47). https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-shipping-moored-off-the-isola-di-san-giorgio-maggiore-or-the-r1196999Brabazon captures the spirit of Turner’s watercolour rather successfully. Given that Turner was influenced in turn by Canaletto, this watercolour attests to the hold which Venice has had over artists through the ages.

Watercolour with touches of white over pencil on blue paper14 x 17.3 cmThe second son of Hercules Sharpe, the artist was educated at Harrow. After leaving Cambridge, where he read mathematics, he decided to become an artist and studied in Rome for three years. On the death of his elder brother he inherited the Brabazon name and estates in Ireland. He spent his summers in England and his winters travelling in Europe and, from the 1860s, further afield. In 1891 Sargent persuaded him to have an exhibition at the Goupil Gallery, and as a result in his old age he was at the forefront of the modern movement.He was most influenced by Turner, Cox, Müller and de Wint, and his style owes much to Turner’s late work. Turner drew several views of Luxembourg on his Meuse–Moselle tour of 1839, and a watercolour from a similar viewpoint is in the Turner Bequest at Tate Britain (TB CCXXX1 0), although it is unlikely that Brabazon would have seen this work.

Second Cataract, Wady HalfahExtensively inscribed with colour notes, Second cataract/929 miles south of Alexandria/Wady Halfah end of journey and dated Feb 6 1874, water colour and pencil, stamped with atelier stamp9.5 x 15.5 cm

Inscribed and dated l.l.: Tombs of the Kings Thebes/15 Jan 1847 and stamped with atelier stamp inscribed and dated NICE 1954, watercolour over pencil9.5 x 15 cm

North-East view of Lyte’s Carey, Somerset and South view of Lyte’s Carey, Somerset A pair, each signed and dated l.r.: J.C. Buckler 1834, each inscribed with title on mount, pen and grey ink and grey wash over traces of pencil, in period burr maple frames stamped JB180 and JB186Each 30 x 38 cm; 11 3/4 x 15 inchesProvenanceHartnoll and EyreThe artist was an architect, the eldest son of the architect John Buckler, who drew Lyte’s Carey and the nearby church in 1834. A pair of unsigned sepia sketches of the same views, probably studies for the present works, hang at the house. These crisp works are typical of his meticulous draftsmanship and attention to architectural detail.Buckler specialised in the restoration of country houses, rebuilding Costessey Hall, Norfolk in 1825-6, a project acclaimed as an important instance of Gothic Revival in domestic architecture by Charles Locke Eastlake. In 1836 he came second in the competition to rebuild the Palace of Westminster after the fire. He also completed a number of restoration projects in parish churches including St Mary’s, Adderbury, Oxfordshire, St Nicholas’, Old Shoreham, West Sussex, St Mary’s, Steeple Barton, Oxfordshire and others.Buckler worked at a number of Oxford colleges, notably Brasenose, Oriel, Magdelen and Jesus and at the University Church of St Mary the Virgin. He also restored Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk, Hengrave Hall, Suffolk, and designed Butleigh Court in Somerset in 1845 and Dunston Hall, Norfolk from 1859.

Signed or inscribed l.l.: W Callow, inscribed l.c.: Le Forum/prise de l’arc de Constantin/26 Sept 40, watercolour over pencil on buff paper24.5 x 36 cm; 9 5/8 x 14 1/4 inchesProvenanceMrs Callow;Walker Gallery;Albany Gallery, from where purchased by the present owner;Private collection, U.K.Callow made his first trip to Italy in 1840 and spent ten days sketching in Rome, when the present work was done. Like many artists he was strongly affected by the country and his Italian views were to become some of his most popular subjects.This drawing is inscribed in French, like other drawings of the period, as Callow had been living in France since 1829. He had obtained great success and royal patronage there and in 1840 he was awarded the gold medal at the Paris Salon. He received commissions for five large watercolours from Marie Amélie, the Duc de Nemours and his pupil Princess Clémentine after they inspected his Italian sketches at the Tuileries Palace. He enjoyed much royal favour but the political instability in France and the prospect of Louis Philippe’s abdication caused him to return to England in March 1841 (see Jan Reynolds, William Callow, 1980, pp. 76-77).It has been suggested that the signature may have been added by Callow’s wife at a later date. A similar drawing of the Ponte Cartro, Rome dated 28 September is in the collection of the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford.

Signed and dated l.r.: Wm Callow/1870, watercolour over pencil with scratching out37 x 27 cm; 14½ x 10⅝ inchesExhibited: The Society of Painters in Water-colours, 1870, The Piazzetta, Venice.This engaging watercolour shows the famous statues of the Lion of St Mark and St Theodore in the Piazzetta, which Callow draws teeming with life. A gondolier looking for business can be seen to the left of the composition while a lady in a red cloak and white shawl is in deep conversation with a soldier in the foreground, evoking characteristically Venetian pursuits.Venice was Callow’s inspiration and he returned to the city throughout his life, always staying at the Hotel Europa facing the Grand Canal. Another watercolour of the Piazzetta dated 1877 is in the collection of the city of Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery (1953P51).

Signed and dated l.l.: Wm Callow/1885., watercolour over pencil with scratching out and touches of white37.4 x 26.7 cm; 14¾ x 10½ inchesExhibited: Probably the Society of Painters in Water-colours, 1885, entitled A Relic of Venetian Architecture in Padua.This colourful drawing shows the triple-arched Venetian Gothic window of the Palazzo di Ezzolino in the centre of Padua, above an archway over a busy thoroughfare bustling with locals shopping. The palace was built in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries by Ezzelino da Romano. A further view of Padua by Callow showing the Market Place and Palazzo Ragione is in the collection of the Provost and Fellows of Eton College.

Signed, inscribed and dated l.r.: VENICE Wm Callow/1857., watercolour over traces of pencil heightened with touches of white24 x 32.2 cm; 9 3/8 x 12 5/8 inchesProvenanceLeger Galleries, 1962;Private collection, by descent until 2018ExhibitedSociety of Painters in Water-Colours, London, 1857;Leger Galleries, 1962LiteratureH.M. Cundall (Ed), William Callow R.W.S. An Autobiography, London, 1908, p. 154Venice was Callow’s inspiration and he returned to the city many times after his first visit in 1840. This viewpoint is taken from the Dogana looking north-west across the mouth of the Grand Canal towards the Doge’s Palace and St Mark’s Square.This work dates from the 1850s when his work was particularly finely drawn and he handled detail with great delicacy.

Signed and dated l.r.: N. Chevalier/1887., watercolour over pencil with scratching out36 x 48.5 cm.; 14 1/8 x 19 1/8 inchesProvenancePrivate collection, U.K. until 2023Born in St Petersburg of a Swiss father and Russian mother, Chevalier moved to Switzerland in 1845 where he studied at the drawing academy affiliated with the Musée Arlaud in Lausanne before studying architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. He travelled to London in 1851 to see the Great Exhibition, where he also trained as a lithographer and exhibited watercolours at the Royal Academy.Chevalier arrived in Melbourne in 1854 and found employment on the magazine Melbourne Punch. Alongside his work as a commercial illustrator he also published in 1865 a portfolio of 12 landscape prints, the earliest examples of chromolithography in Australia. Chevalier visited New Zealand in 1865–66, making extensive records of his tour, which he exhibited in Christchurch and Dunedin and in Melbourne at the Intercolonial Exhibition of 1866–67, as well as at the Paris Salon in 1868.When Queen Victoria’s second son, the Duke of Edinburgh, arrived in Melbourne in 1867 as part of his world tour, Chevalier accompanied the royal party as correspondent for The Illustrated Australian News. Later, he was invited to join the Duke’s entourage for the voyage back to England. His sketches and watercolours documenting the journey were exhibited at the Crystal Palace and at the South Kensington Museum in 1872.After settling in London in 1870, Chevalier received numerous commissions from the royal family. He also travelled routinely to Switzerland to paint. His influence on the development of the fine arts in Australia remained strong.Towards the end of his life Chevalier spent his winters in Madeira, where his final watercolours were made. This view shows Loo Rock in Funchal Bay and gives an evocative sense of the terraces of the city in the late 1880s.

Inscribed l.r.: Buah Nam nam./Cynometra cauliflora. and with further botanical notes in Latin, Jawi and Greek, watercolour and bodycolour over traces of pencil with gum arabic, on laid paper watermarked: RUSE & TURNERS/1825 and with the Strasburg Lily37.5 x 48.5 cm; 14 3/4 x 19 1/4 inchesBuah Nam is a member of the family Fabaceae (legumes) native to Malaysia, a small, cauliflorous tree with a thick, heavily branched stem, and rather small flowers, about 1.2 cm across, that appear on the stem in clusters. The pod is edible with aromatic, juicy yellow pulp and large seeds.ProvenanceSharon and Anne Hamlyn until 2019These fine examples of watercolours by Chinese Artists of the Straits School are in the style of the Chinese artists who worked for Sir Stamford Raffles in Singapore and Major-General William Farquhar (c.1771-1839) who was Resident of Malacca from 1808-1818. The frequent movements of trade and personnel between India and China, via ports on the Malay peninsula including Malacca and Prince of Wales Island, meant that collectors frequently had both Indian and Chinese drawings in their collections. Henry Noltie has suggested that this school is named ‘Straits School’ (see Forgotten Masters Indian Painting for the East India Company, ed. W. Dalrymple, 2019, pp. 78-82).British patrons commissioned local Chinese artists to draw the flora and fauna of Malacca and the extensive botanical annotations in Jawi, the Malay script derived from Arabic, Romanised Malay, Latin and Greek and with reference to the Linnaean system of classification, created by Carl Linnaeus (1707-78) are typical of this material.The accumulation of natural history drawings by officials of the British East India Company gave rise to the term ‘Company School’, now out of favour, which has been used to describe the work of Indian or Chinese artists for British patrons. The distinctive style is a result of a fusion of two artistic traditions, the European with its desire for realism and the Asian taste for a more stylised approach.The eighteenth and early nineteenth century saw an enormous rise of interest in Europe in the study of natural history by both scientists and amateurs. A knowledge of the subject was considered to be an important part of a liberal education and many people studied ‘natural philosophy’ and the various branches of natural history. Accurate drawings were vital tools in classification as well as a reminder of the excited reaction to new discoveries.

Inscribed l.r.: Buah rambootan./Nephelium lappaceum./Monaecia pentandria L. and with further botanical notes, watercolour and bodycolour over traces of pencil with gum arabic, on laid paper watermarked: RUSE & TURNERS/1825 and with the Strasburg Lily38.2 x 48.7 cm; 15 x 19 inchesProvenanceSharon and Anne Hamlyn until 2019These fine examples of watercolours by Chinese Artists of the Straits School are in the style of the Chinese artists who worked for Sir Stamford Raffles in Singapore and Major-General William Farquhar (c.1771-1839) who was Resident of Malacca from 1808-1818. The frequent movements of trade and personnel between India and China, via ports on the Malay peninsula including Malacca and Prince of Wales Island, meant that collectors frequently had both Indian and Chinese drawings in their collections. Henry Noltie has suggested that this school is named ‘Straits School’ (see Forgotten Masters Indian Painting for the East India Company, ed. W. Dalrymple, 2019, pp. 78-82).British patrons commissioned local Chinese artists to draw the flora and fauna of Malacca and the extensive botanical annotations in Jawi, the Malay script derived from Arabic, Romanised Malay, Latin and Greek and with reference to the Linnaean system of classification, created by Carl Linnaeus (1707-78) are typical of this material.The accumulation of natural history drawings by officials of the British East India Company gave rise to the term ‘Company School’, now out of favour, which has been used to describe the work of Indian or Chinese artists for British patrons. The distinctive style is a result of a fusion of two artistic traditions, the European with its desire for realism and the Asian taste for a more stylised approach.The eighteenth and early nineteenth century saw an enormous rise of interest in Europe in the study of natural history by both scientists and amateurs. A knowledge of the subject was considered to be an important part of a liberal education and many people studied ‘natural philosophy’ and the various branches of natural history. Accurate drawings were vital tools in classification as well as a reminder of the excited reaction to new discoveries.

Signed l.l.: E.W. Cooke RA./14 Oc4.1877, inscribed below and above with locations, pencil15.8 x 26.8 cm; 6 ¼ x 10 ½ inchesEdward William Cooke spent ten seasons in Venice from 1850-1877, entranced by the city’s architecture like so many artists before and after him. Rowed by his gondolier, Vincenzo Grilla, Cooke found innumerable subjects to explore. As John Munday observes, ‘What marine painter, worth his salt, could ignore the call of the Serenissima? Certainly not Edward Cooke, for her waterways fringed by palaces and churches of a unique style reflecting moving colour and light were thronged by a fascinating variety of working craft. Further, the islands in the lagoons were set against a mountainous backdrop and were subject to atmospheric effects which could be theatrical. What more, to his taste, could any place offer?’ (John Munday, Edward William Cooke: 1811-1880, Woodbridge 1996, p. 151).Cooke’s views of Venice earned the enthusiastic praise of his contemporaries, including John Ruskin.The Royal Academy, London has a collection of Cooke’s pencil sketches which illustrate in depth the quality of his draughtsmanship.

Boats off CologneSigned and dated l.r.: .S Cotman 1832, numbered and inscribed verso: 14 Boats off Cologne, watercolour over pencil with scratching out23.2 x 32.6 cmProvenanceBaron François Adolphe Akermann, régent of the Banque de France and his wife Louise Marie née Boquet de Saint-Simon, the Chateau de Coulonges, Rahay, Sarthe, France, by descent until 2018The Great Saint Martin church, Cologne can be seen from the Rhine. In the late 18th century the northwestern tower was taken down and Cotman’s drawing shows the church with only two towers on the east side. After the twenty year occupation of the city from 1794 by the French, the archbishopric was ended in 1801 and the cloister at Saint Martin’s disbanded in 1802. The deserted abbey was lived in by French veterans and was later demolished.The two missing towers of the church were finally rebuilt in 1875.This drawing, which has not been on the market since the time of its creation, comes from a friendship album started by Baron Akermann (1809-1890) for his wife Louise Marie Bouqet de Saint-Simon after their marriage in 1836. There was a vogue for such albums in the nineteenth century and visitors would bring a drawing or watercolour as a symbol of friendship or to commemorate a visit. The magnificent leather bound album album contained an unmounted group of drawings and watercolours by artists such as Richard Parkes Bonington, Francia, William Wyld, Decamps, Vernet, Granville, Garneray, Coignet and others. The subjects ranged from marines to genre scenes, landscapes, still lives and interiors.Baron François Adolphe Ackerman (1809-1890) was born in Paris and followed his grandfather and father into the world of finance becoming receveur général des Finances for the department of the Dordogne in 1834 at the age of twenty five. He was an able financier and rebuilt the family estate at Coulonges, Rahay, Sarthe also becoming mayor of Rahay. He became deputy governor of the Banque de France in December 1870 and régent of the Banque de France on 27 January 1871, holding the office until his death. He was painted by Winterhalter. He and his wife had two daughters one of whom, Henrietta, married vicomte Henri de Bouillé.His grand father André Joseph Bernard Ackerman (1743-1824) was receveur general des finances of Namur and his father François Joseph Ackerman (1772-1833) held the same office for the department of Sambre-et-Meuse (1808-1814) and Ardennes (1815-1833).

Watercolour over traces of pencil, inscribed in a later hand on old mount: North side of South Gate-Yarmouth, taken down in 1812. John Sell Cotman/ EXHIB 1812?18.5 x 22.7 cm.; 7 ¼ x 8 15/16 inchesProvenanceMrs Craig Henderson, her sale, Christie’s, London, 24 October1960, (part) lot 56, bt. Spink;Mr & Mrs Giles Pilcher until 1987;With Agnew’s, London, 1992;Private collection until 2004;With W/S Fine Art;Private collection until 2018;With Guy Peppiatt Fine Art, 2019;Private collection, U.K. until 2024ExhibitedProbably Norwich Society of Artists, 1812, no. 63;Agnew’s, 119th Annual Exhibition of English Watercolours and drawings, 1992, no. 35;W/S Fine Art (Andrew Wyld), Landscape on Paper, June 2007, no. 23;Guy Peppiatt Fine Art, British Drawings and Watercolours, 2019,no. 25EngravedEtched by Cotman as the last plate in Specimens of Norman and Gothic Architecture in the County of Norfolk, 1817Cotman and his family moved to Yarmouth in April 1812 on the suggestion of Dawson Turner (1775-1858), his friend and patron. They lived at Bank House, Southtown, a mile from the centre of the town until 1823 when they returned to Norwich. The South Gate was destroyed later in 1812. There is a finished pencil drawing by Cotman of the subject in the Norwich Castle collection numbered 2363. https://www.museumscollections.norfolk.gov.uk/collections-object-page?id=NWHCM%20:%201932.105.25In this atmospheric watercolour which is in exceptional condition, Cotman focuses his artistic attention on the massive body of the gatehouse, skilfully exploring the textures of the stone walls and the interplay of light, shade and colour using a restricted palette. He has deliberately focused on the gate and left the cottages in the foreground lightly washed in without adding further details. The delicately drawn masts of a couple of ships to the right of the tower allude to the proximity of the sea.The subject became well known through the popular etching produced in 1817 for Specimens of Norman and Gothic Architecture in the county of Norfolk. There is greater architectural detail in the print which is closer to the pencil drawing.

Inscribed verso: At Dulwich, sepia wash15.5 x 11.3 cm.; 6 1/8 x 4 3/8 inchesThis drawing was executed while Cox was living in Dulwich between 1809 - 1813, in the house beside the windmill on Dulwich Common.ExhibitedDulwich Picture Gallery, ‘Bicentenary Exhibition’, catalogue no. 4;Dulwich Picture Gallery, ‘Dulwich Past and Present’, summer 1993ProvenanceThe Carnegie family;By descent to Lord Rosehill;Anthony Reed, English Drawings and Paintings, Cork Street, London W1;Sotheby’s, 1 April 1993, lot 75;Barbara Brind;By descent until 2022

Watercolour over pencil21 x 29.8 cm; 8¼ x 11¾ inchesProvenanceJohn Manning Ltd, London.This watercolour shows the main gatehouse of Raglan Castle, largely built by William ap Thomas in the mid fifteenth century. Raglan is not far from Hereford, Cox’s home for many years, and the artist drew several watercolours of the castle, one of which, a distant view of the ruin, was engraved by J. H. Clark.

Watercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour on‘Scotch’ paper, inscribed on old mount: ‘Vale of Dolwyddelan N.W.’21 x 29cmProvenanceSotheby’s, 25 November 1999, lot 70;Professor Anthony Bryer, 1999-2017Cox painted Wales throughout his life but from 1842 his annual visits to North Wales and Betws-y-Coed became central to his oeuvre. He exhibited views of the Vale of Dolwyddelan in 1846, 1847 and 1851. His love for the wild and beautiful scenery of the area inspired his work and the present watercolour captures the drama of the landscape with the characteristic bravura of Cox’s later drawings.

Signed l.r.: D. COX., watercolour over traces of pencil with scratching out and touches of gum arabic21.3 x 34 cm.; 8 3/8 x 13 3/8 inchesProvenanceGuy D. Harvey-Samuel (1887-1960);Fine Art Society, Annual Exhibition of English Drawings and Watercolours, April 1960; no. 108;Private collection, U.K. until 2020This sparkling watercolour in superb condition and dating from circa 1824 is a fine example of the fluent small-scale drawings with which Cox had commercial success in the mid to late 1820s.He wrote to William Radclyffe that he intended to devote more time to saleable smaller works, as his larger pictures were not finding buyers (Scott Wilcox points out that his discovery of the elegant small watercolours by Bonington at this date would have provided a compelling model (See Scott Wilcox, ed., Sun, Wind, and Rain: The Art of David Cox, exhibition catalogue, Yale Centre for British Art, p. 36).Cox drew several versions of this view; the closest to this one is a slightly larger drawing in the British Museum (1915,0313.6). Another version was engraved by William Radclyffe as plate XI in Thomas Roscoe’sWanderings and Excursions in South Wales in 1837 in which agricultural labourers and their horses replace the sheep and cattle in the foreground. Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery have a slightly smaller version with sheep in the foreground (1927P678 and see David Cox, Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, 2008-9, no. 31).

Watercolour11.7 x 18.2 cm.; 4 ½ x 7 1/8 inchesProvenanceGeorge 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 arabic37.8 x 28.2 cm.; 14 7/8 x 11 1/8 inchesProvenanceAbbott and Holder Ltd.;Mrs Brian McQuade, Chertsey;By descent until 2023ExhibitedSociety 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.

Oil on paper12.6 x 19 cm; 5 x 7½ inchesProvenance:James Danby, the son of the artist;With Anthony Reed, London, 1978;Christie’s, London, 7 June 2007, lot 97;With WS Fine Art, summer 2009, no. 19;The Flannery collection, UK, and by descent until 2018.Exhibited:Anthony Reed and Davis & Long, London and New York, English Sketches and Studies, 1978, no. 86;WS Fine Art, London, summer exhibition 2009, no. 19.Danby was a very keen sailor and also had a life-long interest in building boats. This dramatic sketch of an untidy boat yard under a heavy, brooding sky, drawn on the spot, may well record work on one of his own boats, The Chase .Danby lived on the Maer near Exmouth from 1846. It has been suggested that this work shows The Point in Exmouth, where the flag flew next to Ferry Cottage to indicate when and where the ferry crossed from Exmouth over to Starcross. 1 There were two boat building firms listed at The Point, on the other side of Ferry Cottage, one owned by John Hayman, where Danby’s boat The Chase was constructed in 1847–1848. This yacht provoked comment due to its innovative and unusually broad hollow keel. 2 Danby later built himself a yacht called the Dragon Fly in which he was shipwrecked off Axmouth in August 1860, the year before he died.Another oil sketch of a boat building shed, of a similar size and reminiscent of the work of Corot, is dated by Francis Greenacre to c. 1840. 3 Stylistically the present work may also be compared with a group of spontaneous sketches of the Exe and Exmouth dating from c. 1855. 4 They appear to be records of landscape and atmospheric effects done on the spot or very shortly afterwards. This group, many of which had inscriptions saying ‘Francis Danby ARA’ on the verso in James Danby’s hand, were bought from a member of the Danby family who lived near St Albans by a local dealer around 1930. 51. April Marjoram, by email communication with the author, October 2018.2. Western Times, 30 June 1849.3. F. Greenacre, ‘Francis Danby 1793–1861’, exhibition catalogue, City of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery and Tate Gallery, 1988, no. 52, p. 121.4. Ibid., nos. 53–8.5. Eric Adams, Francis Danby: Varieties of Poetic Landscape, 1973, no. 58; see F. Greenacre, op. cit., p. 123 (under no. 57).

Oil on paper laid down on canvas32 x 49 cm.; 12 ½ x 19 ½ inchesProvenanceMiss H.H. Tatlock, the artist’s granddaughter;C.K. Bloom;Percy Moore Turner (1877 – 1950);Sotheby’s, London, 2 May 1962, lot 133, where purchased by Agnew’s, London;Simon C. Dickinson, London, where purchased by the previous ownerExhibitedUsher Art Gallery, Lincoln, Peter de Wint, 1937, no. 77;Agnew’s, London, Loan Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Peter de Wint, 1966, no. 66This atmospheric oil on paper is most probably St Michael’s, Bray, on the Thames. De Wint made several watercolours of the church.

Inscribed verso: View in Cumberland F de Wint, watercolour, on two sheets, joined15.2 x 64.7 cm; 6 x 25½ inchesProvenance: Lady Lyons, her sale at Christie’s, London, 24 October 1960, lot 42;With Spink & Son Ltd, London, K3 1910;H. A. Molins, his sale at Sotheby’s, London, 22 November 2007, lot 143;With WS Fine Art, London, 2008;The Flannery collection, UK, and by descent until 2018.Exhibited: WS Fine Art, summer 2008, no. 34.This atmospheric panorama with a remarkably extensive uninterrupted vista dates from the 1830s and is a companion to A View of the Cumberland Hills from Patterdale , in the collection of the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester (D1924.63). Both watercolours are painted with wet, broad washes in the same palette on two sketchbook pages joined together, in the narrow panoramic format favoured by the artist, and are identical in size. They were presumably done on the spot. It seems highly probable that this watercolour is also of the fell region between Keswick and Penrith. De Wint is thought to have drawn these when visiting from the homes of his patrons the Howards of Leben or the Lonsdales of Lowther, with both of whom he stayed.The Gentleman’s Magazine obituary of the artist stated, His visits to the lakes of Westmerland [sic] and Cumberland produced many valuable sketches and drawings of picturesque scenery of a higher character; and his characteristic diligence in studying nature under all circumstances was never relaxed. 11. September 1849, p. 322, quoted in John Lord, ed., ‘Peter de Wint 1784–1849’, exhibition catalogue, Usher Art Gallery, Lincoln, 2007, p. 145.

Watercolour over faint traces of pencil with scratching out26.6 x 54.4 cm sight sizeProvenanceWith Thomas Agnew & Sons. Ltd, London, no. 14733, cat. no 45;Sir Robert and Lady Mayer, by descent to the present ownerExhibitedAgnew’s Galleries, London, 1966, Loan Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Peter de Wint, in aid of Lincoln Cathedral Fabric Maintenance Fund, no. 74Peter De Wint was the son of a physician who, though born in New York of Dutch immigrant parents, was trained in Holland and London. The artist’s marriage to Harriet Hilton, sister of fellow painter William Hilton, introduced him to their native Lincolnshire where they spent many of their summers and which was to provide him with a lifetime of inspiration. In Harriet de Wint’s Memoir she wrote, ‘at Lincoln and the neighbourhood where he ever found new beauties and new subjects...the long, extensive distances with their ever varying effects. .afforded him unceasing delight’ (H. De Wint, A Short Memoir of the Life of Peter De Wint and William Hilton, R.A.’, privately printed, pp. 84).This lovely De Wint is a masterly example of his skilled use of the wet brush, creating layers of colour to build up the Lincolnshire landscape. It has not been possible to identify Yardley Mill; it may be that the mill was named after its owner.This drawing has been in the same family since it was bought by the present owner’s grandmother from Agnew’s in the 1940s.

Signed and dated l.r.: A. Delacroix./1835, watercolour with touches of bodycolour and scratching out, numbered verso: No 1615.6 x 23.9 cmProvenance: Baron François Adolphe Akermann, régent of the Banque de France and his wife Louise Marie née Boquet de Saint-Simon, the Chateau de Coulonges, Rahay, Sarthe, France, by direct descent until 2018This drawing comes from a friendship album started by Baron Akermann (1809-1890) for his wife after their marriage in 1836. There was a vogue for such albums in the nineteenth century and visitors would bring a drawing or watercolour as a symbol of friendship or to commemorate a visit. The magnificent leather-bound album contained an unmounted group of drawings and watercolours by artists such as Richard Parkes Bonington, Francia, William Wyld, Decamps, Vernet, Granville, Garneray, Coignet and others. The subjects ranged from marines to genre scenes, landscapes, still lifes, interiors.The B on the boat is the identifying code for Boulogne.Baron François Adolphe Ackerman (1809-1890) was born in Paris and followed his grandfather and father into the world of finance becoming receveur général des Finances for the department of the Dordogne in 1834 at the age of twenty-five. He was an able financier and rebuilt the family estate at Coulonges, Rahay, Sarthe also becoming mayor of Rahay. He became deputy governor of the Banque de France in December 1870 and régent of the Banque de France on 27 January 1871, holding the office until his death. He was painted by Winterhalter. He and his wife had two daughters one of whom, Henrietta, married vicomte Henri de Bouillé.

Signed with initials, inscribed and dated verso: G.D. 1836/Puerta Romana/Cordoba, watercolour over pencil22 x 32 cmProvenanceBernard Williams Weller (1870-1944), journalist and criticGeorge Dennis was an English artist, explorer and writer. He left school at 15 but was a prodigious linguist, who taught himself ancient Greek and Latin then learnt Spanish, French, Portuguese and several other languages. His intrepid spirit inspired his first visit to Spain in the 1830s. From Cadiz he travelled to Grenada through the Sierra Nevada, visiting Cacin, Alhama, the Tajo, the Sierra Tejada, Velez, Malaga and Ronda. He continued on to Gibraltar via Benadalid, Gaucin, Posada amongst other places and then finally returned to Cadiz. The roads were dangerous and he encountered difficulties with banditti. He also ventured further north visiting Tudela, Zaragoza, Toledo and Illesas. His first work, ‘A Summer in Andalucia’ (2 volumes) was published in 1839.Dennis travelled further in Italy and made an illustrated study of the cemeteries of Etruria, which was published in 1848 by the British Museum, London and he completed the first account of Etruscan sources in the modern era.He joined the Colonial Service later in life and became vice-consul to Sicily, and subsequently to Benghazi and Smyrna. He was a companion of the Order of St Michael and St George.

Signed l.l.: DETMOLD, watercolour over pencil with a brown line border31.3 x 20.3 cmProvenanceAlan Fortunoff, by descent until 2017Detmold worked as a painter, illustrator and printmaker specialising in meticulous, intense images. He and his twin brother Charles were taken by their great-uncle to London zoo and the Natural History Museum to draw from an early age. Their uncle Henry Detmold, an artist, further encouraged their development and they absorbed the influence of Japanese printmakers, fashionable in the late 19th century.E.J. Detmold’s work is to be found in many museum collections including that of the British Museum, the V&A and the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.Alan Fortunoff (1933-2000) was an American department store magnate who transformed the Fortunoff Department Store. He formed a fine collection British nineteenth and twentieth century art.

Inscribed above: Furness Fells with a fall that runs into Coniston Water and Blawith Bridge, pen and grey ink and watercolour over pencil, with a grey line border, on laid paper watermarked JWHATMAN38 x 54 cm; 15 x 21 1/4 inchesProvenance: Sotheby’s 15 July 1976, lot 151;Where bought by the previous owner, the Pemberton collection until 2019The younger brother of Arthur Devis the portrait painter, Anthony Devis exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1761-1781. He travelled extensively in the British Isles and made several trips to the Lakes. By the end of the 1750s he had begun producing Lake District views, including the large oil painting now in Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal, a ‘View of Derwentwater and Skiddaw from Lord’s Island’. Nothing is known of his visits to the Lake District but he produced a number of drawings in his characteristic style. The Wordsworth Trust own a drawing of Furness Abbey by Devis amongst a group of several others.

This group of work explores the artist’s physical connection to the material world. Made in all weathers by the riverbank, and executed without correction in one sitting on one day, each image refers both to the immediacy of this encounter and the recollection of past experience. This singular occurrence becomes one of a sequence, forming over time a living record that reflects on the fluid interaction of water and ground while simultaneously employing the elements – rain, silt, river water - as both the medium and material in their making.Mixed media on paper57 x 76 cmJune 2017

Watercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour and scratching out24.5 x 35.5 cmProvenanceSotheby’s, 13 July, 1989, lot 173, bought by Neuberg;Private collection, U.K.Legend has it that a giant called Gwendol Wrekin ap Shenkin ap Mynyddmawr had a grudge against the town of Shrewsbury and decided to flood it to kill all its inhabitants. He collected a giant-sized spade of earth and set off towards the town. When he was near Wellington he met a cobbler returning from Shrewsbury market with a large sack of shoes for repair. The giant asked him for directions, adding that he was going to dump his spade of earth in the River Severn and flood the town. "It's a very long way to Shrewsbury," replied the quick-thinking shoemaker. "Look at all these shoes I've worn out walking back from there!" The giant changed his mind and dumped the earth on the ground beside him, creating the Wrekin.

Watercolour over pencil with scratching out13.9 x 20 cmThe artist was the youngest son of Nathan Theodore Fielding. From c. 1827 to 1830 he lived in Paris, where he ran the family engraving business, at which William Callow worked. He collaborated with his brothers Thales and Theodore in England before returning to France, where he built up an extensive teaching practice, with pupils including members of the family of King Louis-Philippe.Provenance: Augusta Raymond-Barker, Fairford Park, Gloucestershire; thence by family descent until 2016

Inscribed l.l. on original mount: At Tenby, pen and brown ink, brush and brown and grey wash on laid paper, partially watermarked FABRIANO21 x 26.3 cm.; 8 ¼ x 10 ¼ inchesHeneage Finch, 4th Earl of Aylesford was a talented amateur artist who studied drawing with John Baptist Malchair while he was at Christ Church College, Oxford. His mature style shows show the influence of Rembrandt, whose etchings he collected.Aylesford made frequent tours to Wales, including a trip in 1803 when he may have made this view of Tenby. Another very similar but slightly smaller drawing of boats at the shore at Tenby by him is in the collection of Tate (T08126) and a further view of Tenby is in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC (2009.70.30).He was also a politician, patron of the arts (he was a trustee of the British Museum from 1787-1812), etcher and a talented amateur architect. His work can be found in many institutional collections.

Signed c.r.: Francia, watercolour over traces of pencil with scratching out and touches of bodycolour, numbered verso: No 44.20.4 x 29.4 cmProvenanceBaron François Adolphe Akermann, régent of the Banque de France and his wife Louise Marie née Boquet de Saint-Simon, the Chateau de Coulonges, Rahay, Sarthe, France, by direct descent until 2018An important addition to Francia’s known oeuvre, this drawing shows the busy port of Dunkirk with loggers moving their wood in the foreground in front of a variety of moored boats. The Leughenaer, or Liar’s Tower, on the right of the composition, is one of the most famous monuments in Dunkirk and continues to dominate the old port. It was erected by Jacques Desfontaines in 1405 and is Dunkirk’s oldest surviving building. Originally part of the port’s fortifications, it became Dunkirk’s first lighthouse at the end of the eighteenth century. The Leughenaer is 30 metres high and overlooks Minck Square, the site of the old fish market. Between 1814 and 1823 the top section with a search light was added to the tower.There is a drawing by Francia dating from around 1824, now in the collection of the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dunkirk, which shows the tower from the quay on the right had side of the present watercolour (see Louis Francia’ Musée des Beaux-Arts, Calais 1988/89, no. 79).Francia was Bonington’s teacher whose work provides an important link between British and French watercolour painting in the early nineteenth century. A native of Calais, he left for London in 1788 after the outbreak of the French Revolution and remained until 1817. He established a practise as a drawing master in London and a reputation as a painter of marine and landscape watercolours. He attended the Monro ‘academy’, made sketching tours, was secretary of the Brothers, a sketching club of which Girtin was a member and was also secretary of the Associated Artists in Water Colours. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1795-1822. He returned to Calais in 1817. He gave Bonington his first professional lessons in watercolour in Calais as well as other artists including William Wyld, Eugène Isabey, Tesson and Collignon. British and French artists who passed through the town on a tour of the coast or en route to Paris or London would visit him.Baron François Adolphe Ackerman (1809-1890) was born in Paris and followed his grandfather and father into the world of finance becoming receveur général des Finances for the department of the Dordogne in 1834 at the age of twenty-five. He was an able financier and rebuilt the family estate at Coulonges, Rahay, Sarthe also becoming mayor of Rahay. He became deputy governor of the Banque de France in December 1870 and régent of the Banque de France on 27 January 1871, holding the office until his death. He was painted by Winterhalter. He and his wife had two daughters one of whom, Henrietta, married Vicomte Henri de Bouillé.

Signed on sail: Francia, watercolour over traces of pencil with scratching out and touches of bodycolour, numbered on old mount: No 8114 x 20.4 cmProvenanceBaron François Adolphe Akermann, régent of the Banque de France and his wife Louise Marie née Boquet de Saint-Simon, the Chateau de Coulonges, Rahay, Sarthe, France, by direct descent until 2018This drawing comes from a friendship album started by Baron Akermann (1809-1890) for his wife after their marriage in 1836. There was a vogue for such albums in the nineteenth century and visitors would bring a drawing or watercolour as a symbol of friendship or to commemorate a visit. The magnificent leatherbound album contained an unmounted group of drawings and watercolours by artists such as Richard Parkes Bonington, Francia, William Wyld, Decamps, Vernet, Granville, Garneray, Coignet and others. The subjects ranged from marines to genre scenes, landscapes, still lifes, interiors.

Signed l.c.: FRANCIA, watercolour over traces of pencil.10 x 23 cm.; 4 x 9 inchesProvenanceSir William Forbes, 7th Baronet, of Pitsligo (1773-1828), also of Colinton House, Greenhill House and Fettercairn House, Kincardineshire and by descent until 2017;With Abbott and Holder;Private collection U.K. until 2024Francia was Bonington’s teacher whose work provides an important link between British and French watercolour painting in the early nineteenth century. A native of Calais, he left for London after the outbreak of the French Revolution and remained until 1817. He established a practise as a drawing master in London and a reputation as a painter of marine and landscape watercolours. He attended the Monro ‘academy’, made sketching tours, was secretary of the Brothers, a sketching club of which Girtin was a member and was also secretary of the Associated Artists in Water Colours. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1795-1822. He returned to Calais in 1817.Sir William Forbes, 7th Bt., began acquiring Old Master drawings as a young man, travelled to Italy in 1827 and formed an important collection of Old Master paintings later in life. He bought extensively from the posthumous sales of John McGouan (L. 1496), another significant Scottish collector, in 1803 and 1804. He was also an enthusiastic patron of British contemporary watercolourists.

Watercolour over traces of pencil with touches of white, gum arabic and scratching out36.5 x 47.3 cmProvenanceThe Oppé collection, Sotheby’s, 15 July 2016, lot 135 (as British School)Gastineau made many watercolours of Welsh subjects, some of which were engraved and published as Wales Illustrated in 1830–31. These included another version of this view, showing the Eagle Tower from a slightly different angle: see below. He exhibited two watercolours of Caernarvon Castle at the Old WaterColour Society (OWS), in 1830, no. 356 (possibly the present drawing), and again in 1847, no. 225.The artist was known for his successful moonlit watercolours, to which according to Roget he gave a characteristic mellowness by means of preliminary washes of warm colour: see J. L. Roget, A History of the Old WaterColour Society, 1891, reprinted 1972, p. 508.

KT341Signed, inscribed and dated l.r.: On the Holmwood/Dorking/H. Gastineau/1864(?), watercolour over pencil with touches of gum arabic27 x 37.5 cm.; 10 5/8 x 14 ¾ inchesA prolific and successful watercolourist, Gastineau travelled widely in the British Isles and abroad. He was based in Camberwell, London from 1827. Gastineau exhibited numerous views of Surrey throughout his long career. His work may be found in many UK museum collections.

Signed and dated l.l.: M. Gianni.1897, further inscribed on previous backboard: Grand Harbour/EA (?), gouache19 x 53 cmProvenance: Private collection, UK, until 2019This bright watercolour is a fine example of the delicate work of M. Gianni, known as Maria to collectors, whose work is included in numerous collections in Malta. The shipping is particularly nicely drawn in great detail.

Inscribed verso: Malacca/where dear William died & was buried/Feby. 4th 1845, watercolour over traces of pencil, further inscribed again on original label, signed on the flyleaf of the album from which it comes13.8 x 23 cm.; 5⅜ x 9 inchesApollonia Griffith was a talented print maker and watercolourist. Her father was the London merchant Thomas Griffith of Ham Common, who had four children including her brother William, celebrated for his contribution to Indian botany.William studied medicine at London University, where his botanical interests developed. In 1832 he joined the East India Company as an assistant surgeon at Madras. After trips to Bhutan and Afghanistan, he took charge of Calcutta Botanic Garden in 1842. Only three years later he was to die at Malacca of hepatitis, leaving behind a widow, young child and three maiden sisters. A cenotaph was erected to commemorate him in the Botanic Garden in Calcutta.On his deathbed William asked fellow botanist John McClelland to sort through and publish his manuscript papers, and it is through these posthumous memoirs, journals of his travels on the Indian subcontinent published in 1847 with lithographs by Apollonia, that Griffith’s work is so widely known and celebrated. Her role is praised in the introduction to the memoirs:we owe the transfer of the landscapes to stone, which add so much to the appearance of the following volume, to the talent and kindness of his sister.

Stamped l.l.: G. Guillaument, oil on panel, three labels attached to reverse of original frame15.5 x 24 cmProvenanceAlfred Kulka (1868-1926), Jägendorf, bequeathed to his sister Valerie Heissfeld, (1876-1938); Lotte Heissfeld (1907-1983) a Christmas gift from her mother, 1936; On her death left to the mother of the present owner, by descent until 2022Guillaumet was a leading French Orientalist painter. From 1857 he studied under François-Édouard Picot and Félix Barrias at the École des Beaux-Arts. He won the second prize in the Prix de Rome for historical landscape in 1861 and set off for Italy. In Marseille he was delayed by a storm and by chance took a boat for Alger. He was entranced by Algeria and its light. During this first journey he made a large quantity of drawings and studies.Between 1862 and 1884 Guillaumet returned to Algeria on ten or eleven trips, spending several months there each time, travelling around the country, living either in villages, or in Kabyle ksour (fortified villages) or with nomads. He also accompanied French expeditionary columns, as in 1864 and witnessed raids and the repression of insurrections. He wrote of his admiration for the landscape and his empathy for the population. Inspired by Fromentin’s works, he wrote texts about his Oriental experiences that appeared in the 'Nouvelle Revue' starting in 1879 and were later published together in an illustrated volume ‘Tableaux Algériens’ published posthumously in 1888.Guillaumet, who at first had a studio at Sèvres, settled permanently in Paris in 1885. He lived there with Cécile Neinlist (1838-1929) whom he married in 1879 and with whom he had a son, Édouard, born in 1866. He exhibited regularly at the Salon from 1861 to 1880. He enjoyed early success and the French state acquired several of his pictures of rural and nomadic Algeria for the Luxembourg and provincial museums. After his premature death a first retrospective exhibition was organized at the Paris École des Beaux-Arts in 1888. (1)His work may be found in Paris at the Musée d’Orsay and the Louvre. In Algeria, works by him are also on view in the public collections of the National Fine Arts Museum of Alger, at the National Museum Cirta in Constantine and the Zabana National Museum of Oran. He was the subject of a monographic exhibition’ L’Algérie de Gustave Guillaumet (1840-1887)’, (2) at the Musée des Beaux-Arts of La Rochelle, the Musée des Beaux-Arts of Limoges and at La Piscine in Roubaix (9 March – 2 June 2019).The Kulka-Heissfeld collection was formed by Richard Kulka (1863- 1931) the son of a Jewish industrialist with textile factories in Jägerndorf who moved to Vienna and became a lawyer. The paintings in the collection were mainly 19th and early 20th century landscapes. On his death he left 1/3 of his collection to his sister Adele Kulka and 2/3 to Valerie Heißfeld. Valerie and her daughter Lotte left Vienna in 1938 after the Anschluss with some of the collection. They applied for export applications for numerous works of art and succeeded in taking many with them. Lotte succeeded in fleeing to England on 1 March 1939 with around 25 pictures, of which this is one. Her mother and aunt, Adela Kulka, perished at the concentration camp at Theresienstadt.Exposition des œuvres de G. Guillaumet: au profit d’un monument à élever à la mémoire de F. Bonvin, Paris, École Nationale des Beaux-Arts, 7 to 31 January 1888.[↩]Marie Gautheron (dir.), L’Algérie de Gustave Guillaumet (1840-1887), exh. cat. 2018-2019 Musée des Beaux-Arts de La Rochelle, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Limoges and La Piscine de Roubaix, 2018.[↩]

General Robert Clive receiving the homage of the Nawab Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey c.1761-2Oil on canvas, 20 x 203/4 ins. (50.8 x 60.5 cm)Inscribed indistinctly on stretcher: ‘F.M. Wor… RA’ 1ProvenancePrivate collection, U.S.A., until 2012Literature: Brian Allen, Francis Hayman (New Haven & London, 1987) p.123, 177, checklist no.101;The Raj-India and the British, National Portrait Gallery catalogue 1990, ill. p.32, fig.10This is probably a preliminary oil sketch by Hayman for the huge canvas (12 x 15 feet) which formed part of the series of four gigantic pictures illustrating glorious victories from the Seven Years War (1756-63) which were installed in the annex to the Rotunda at Vauxhall Gardens by the proprietor Jonathan Tyers (1702-67).Although much acclaimed at the time of their unveiling in the early 1760s, all four large pictures had disappeared from the Gardens by 1840 (they were almost certainly removed and probably destroyed by that date or soon after) but a lengthy description of the original large pictures was published in a contemporary guidebook to the gardens and in the London press and this source enabled the identification of a larger (presumably subsequent) preliminary sketch for the same subject which is now in the National Portrait Gallery.2 Another rougher version of this subject, was with Spink in the 1970s (K2 3992) and is now in a private collection in the U.K.The subject depicted is the meeting between the victorious General Robert Clive (1725-1774) and Mir Jafar, the Nawab of Bengal (c.1691(?)–1765) after the Battle of Plassey on 23 rd June 1757. Clive was extraordinarily successful in India and, on his return to England in 1760 with an enormous personal fortune, received huge critical acclaim.3In 1756 the Nawab of Oudh, Siraj-ud-Daula, (1733-1757) captured the East India Company’s settlement at Calcutta and imprisoned British captives in the infamous Black Hole. Robert Clive, in command of the Company’s army, recaptured Calcutta in January 1757 and then took the French fort at nearby Chandernagore in March. Clive then deposed Siraj, with the help of Mir Jafar at the Battle of Plassey.Mir Jafar’s rule is usually considered to be the start of British imperialism in India. He had effectively betrayed his predecessor Siraj ud-Dulah (1733-1757) who was killed soon after the battle, in order to become the next Nawab of Bengal. He gave a fortune of around £3 million to the East India Company, but in 1760 Mir Jafar was forced to abdicate in favour of his son-in-law Mir Qasim (d.1777). In 1763 Mir Jafar was restored with the full support of the Company for the remaining two years of his life. In 1764 Clive assumed supreme military and civil power in Bengal and forced the Mughal Emperor Sah ‘Alam to allow him to collect revenue (diwan) on his behalf.It is worth quoting at length from the rather exaggeratedly effusive contemporary description of the large lost picture since the author must have spoken with Hayman to elucidate the subject matter, if indeed the painter himself was not its author: ‘General Clive, after gaining the battle of Plassey in the East Indies, which restored the English interest that had been ruined in those parts of the world, found himself under a necessity of deposing the reigning Nabob; for that purpose sent from the field of battle for Meer Jaffer, a principal General under the Subah or Nabob, and an enemy to the French. Meer Jaffer sent for, seeing the General surrounded by his victorious troops under their arms, approaches him with every symptom of doubt and dissidence in his countenance. The General is represented in the attitude of Friendship, by extending his hands to receive him. Behind the General stands his Aid de Camp with his spontoon in his hand; as bold but as graceful a figure as can well be conceived, the British colours are display’d in the hands of another English officer, with the like appearance as the former, but all of them in different atitudes. A bold horse, supposed to be the General’s that seems startled at the sight of the elephant, closes to the fore ground of this compartment of the picture. It is but justice to the Painter to say, that no figures wereever better detached from the canvas than those are; that of the General, being the principal, is inimitably free, and in a most masterly stile of painting. The painter could with no propriety avoid representing the British figures in their uniform; but to prevent a sameness in the composition, he has with great judgment introduced the Indian groom in the habit of his country, which form a most happy contrast. Meer Jaffer wears on his face strong remains of the emotions already mentioned, but his dejection seems faintly alleviated by the General’s manner of receiving him. The extension of his arms and the inclination of his body is most movingly expressive of doubt, submission and resignation, which is heightened by an Indian officer laying the Subah’s standard at the General’s feet. The future Subah or Nabob is attended by his son, a youth of about eighteen years of age, bewitchingly handsome, and painted with a masterly propriety. The other Indian figures behind Meer Jaffer are those of his friends and officers, and the countenances of them all strongly partake of the inquietudes of their principal. This co[m]partment is terminated by an elephant on the background, which the greatest judges from the East-Indies say is the best they ever saw in a painting, both co[m]partments of the picture (for so they may be called on account of the diversity of the figures they exhibit) are drawn up around the scene of interview. The painter has here taken advantage of the various dresses of the Indians, which, as well as their arms and all their other attributes, are preserved with the utmost precision, to introduce a beautiful play of colours, without departing from propriety.’4 The other two versions and the present picture correspond closely to the published description except that there is no ‘Indian officer laying the Subbah’s standard at the General’s feet’ in either of the two other preparatory works, although the present work has a native with a box which may contain a folded standard. The present work also has a golden ladder and a chair on top of the elephant. Other minor differences between the preparatory works show Clive wearing his tricorn hat in both other versions but hatless in the present picture. In the present picture Mir Jafar is shown bowing more obsequiously than in the larger NPG picture. The NPG picture shows the red banner of the other two pictures turned into a British flag.A letter in the National Library of Wales (Robert Clive Papers H1/1-4) reveals that Clive visited Hayman’s studio on 26 April 1763 when Henry Clive paid 5s to ‘Mr Hamans the painter’. This is recorded in an account book in the handwriting of Henry Clive (1709-1775), who was a first cousin of Clive of India’s father. When Robert Clive came back from India for the second time in 1760, with his young cousinGeorge in attendance, cousin Henry, who was an attorney, seems to have become a kind of steward, travelling with the party and keeping this account book (Dr Charlotte Mitchell kindly shared this information by email in October 2018). This shows that Clive almost certainly commissioned a painting from Hayman and it seems highly likely that he saw the Vauxhall Gardens work and decided that he wanted one for himself.Despite never setting foot in India Hayman was among the first British artists to exploit Indian subject matter, a genre that was to become increasingly popular towards the end of the century in the hands of artists who did travel to the sub-Continent such as Zoffany and Tilly Kettle.1. There is no record of any Royal Academician corresponding to the inscription.2. See A Description of Vaux-Hall Gardens (London, 1762) bound into the end of the BritishLibrary’s copy. See also The Public Advertiser, no.8905 (20 May 1763) and The LondonMagazine, XXXII (May 1763) pp.233-4, quoted by Allen, Francis Hayman (see Literatureabove). The larger sketch in the NPG was correctly identified by Brian Allen as by Haymanwhen it was catalogued by Christie’s as ‘English School’ in an anonymous sale on 22 June 1979(162), bought by the National Portrait Gallery. This work had previously been misidentified asby the American Mather Brown (1761-1831) by Mildred Archer in India and BritishPortraiture 1700-1825 (London, 1979) p.419. For further details of the three other largehistorical pictures see Allen, op.cit., pp.62-93. See Mark Bence-Jones, Clive of India (London, 1975)4. See A description of Vaux-Hall Gardens (London, 1762) note 2 above.

Signed with monogram and dated 24th. Octr. 57. l.r., watercolour over pencil18.5 x 24.3 cmThis free sketch is a delightful example of Holland’s virtuosity. He first visited Venice in 1835 and was to return throughout the rest of his life, inspired by the beauty of the city, like so many other artists. He valued his own sketches greatly and once commented that parting with a sketch was like parting with a tooth; once sold it cannot be replaced (L. R. Valpy, Memoir of Samuel Palmer, 1881, p. 76).The facade of the Scuola Grande di San Marco, one of the six great philanthropic confraternities of the Venetian Republic, is by Pietro Lombardo (1435–1515) and Giovanni Buora (1487–90?) and was finished by Mauro Codussi in 1495. The lion of San Marco can be seen in the middle of Holland’s composition. The building is situated next to Santi Giovanni e Paolo and the interior is now occupied by the civic hospital of Venice which stretches to the lagoon.Provenance: Sir Henry Houldsworth, Bt; Leger Galleries Ltd, February 1962; Private collection, UK

Signed l.c.: Howitt, pen and grey ink and watercolour over traces of pencil13 x 18.3 cmThe artist, who married the sister of Thomas Rowlandson, is acclaimed for his country subjects. His animal sketches were frequently done from life.Provenance: Henry Rogers Broughton, 2nd Baron Fairhaven (1800– 1973)Henry Rogers Broughton succeeded his older brother, Urban Huttlestone Broughton, as 2nd Baron Fairhaven in 1966. He was born in the United States and was educated at Harrow before joining the Royal Horse Guards in 1920. Both brothers were great collectors, and Henry put together one of the largest twentieth-century collections of paintings, drawings, gouaches and miniatures. He left a large bequest of 120 flower paintings, over 900 watercolours and drawings and 44 volumes of drawings by botanical artists such as Redouté and Ehret to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge – the Broughton Bequest.

Signed and dated l.l.: JM Ince 1846, watercolour over pencil with scratching out and touches of gum arabic21.6 x 35 cm; 8 ½ x 13 ¾ inchesInce has drawn the Abbey from across the Abbey Foregate. He has used some artistic license and reduced the size of the west window and altered the fenestration of the belfry stage by separating the two windows. The surrounding buildings are no longer present today.Ince studied with David Cox in Hereford before moving to London in 1826 when he started to exhibit at the Royal Academy. He moved first to Cambridge and then in the 1830s back to Presteigne in Wales where he was based for the rest of his life.

KT 193SOLDSigned and dated l.l.: JM Ince 1851, watercolour over traces of pencil with stopping and scratching out, touches of bodycolour and gum arabic, inscribed in pencil verso in a later hand: Clovelly town & bay North Devon by Joseph Ince 185122 x 34.5 cmProvenanceThe Fine Art Society Ltd, 48th Exhibition, April 1968, no. 96;Private collection, UKThis very fresh watercolour is a delightful example of a coastal view of one of north Devon’s most picturesque seaside villages, shown here as a busy working fishery.Ince studied with David Cox in Hereford before moving to London in 1826 when he started to exhibit at the Royal Academy. He moved first to Cambridge and then back to Presteigne in Wales in the 1830s where he was based for the rest of his life. His characteristic work is included in the drawings collections of most major museums.

KT531Signed l.r.: J.M. INCE 1839, signed and inscribed verso in pen and brown ink: View in Radnorshire/J. Ince, watercolour over traces of pencil with scratching out and stopping out28 x 43.8 cm.; 11 x 17 inchesThis beautiful watercolour shows the influence of David Cox very clearly.Ince studied with David Cox in Hereford before moving to London in 1826 when he started to exhibit at the Royal Academy. He moved first to Cambridge and then in the 1830s back to Presteigne in Radnorshire, where he was based for the rest of his life.

KT381Signed with monogram l.r., inscribed with title l.l., watercolour with bodycolour and16 x 25 cm; 6 ¼ x 9 ¾ inchesFramed size 35.5 x 42 cm.; 14 x 16 ½ inchesSOLDProvenanceMartin Hardie (1875-1952);Christopher and Rosemary Warren, Bristol until 2020Johnson was born in Birmingham where he studied under Samuel Restell Lines. He was then a pupil of William James Müller in London, accompanying him on Sir Charles Fellowes’ expedition to Lycia in 1843.On Johnson’s return to London he became a founder member of the Clipstone Street Academy, along with Müller, participating in its life drawing and painting sessions with a variety of models from the streets. Johnson made sketching trips with David Cox to North Wales from 1844.The artist was elected an associate member of the R.I. in 1868 and a full member two years later. His work can be found in many museum collections, including the British Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum and the Fitzwilliam Museum.Martin Hardie (1875-1952) was the author of the three-volume bible of British watercolourists Water-Colour Painting in Britain and a curator at the Victoria & Albert Museum. He was also an authority on print making on which he published extensively as well as a practising artist in both watercolour and etching.

Inscribed and dated u.l.: Sa Ma de’ Monti/6 May 1781, pencil and grey wash on laid paper18.8 x 26.4 cm; 7 3/8 x 10 3/8 inchesProvenanceIolo Williams (1890-1962);Leger, 1992;Private collection, U.K., purchased from the aboveExhibitedMarble Hill House, Twickenham,Thomas Jones, 1970, no. 52;Leger,British Landscape Painting, 4 March - 3 April,1992, no. 25Thomas Jones was born at Trefonnen near Llandrindod in Radnorshire. At the request of his uncle, he attended Jesus College, Oxford, in order to enter the church, but in 1761 Jones went to London and enrolled at Shipley's drawing school. By March 1763, Jones had decided to pursue landscape painting and persuaded Richard Wilson (1713-1782) to take him as an apprentice. He subsequently established a thriving landscape practice. However, despite his success in London, Jones hankered after Italy.Jones had long wanted to travel to Italy; a favourite project that had been in agitation for some years, and on which my heart was fixed (A.P. Oppé, ed., Memoirs of Thomas Jones , Walpole Society, XXXII, 1946-1948, p. 37). This may have been heightened by the example of Richard Wilson, whose artistic success had been assured by the Italian scenes he painted on his return to England after six years in Rome in the 1750s. Jones had studied and copied his sketches and studies during his apprenticeship. However, for years his trip to the continent had been thwarted by mounting debts and his parents' disapproval of the scheme and Jones did not leave until October 1776.Jones was greatly affected by the changing landscape and light as he travelled through France to Italy. After a brief stay in Florence, he arrived in Rome on 27 November 1776. In his lively and informative memoirs, Jones refers to Wilson’s influence when expressing his joy at travelling through Italy and entering Rome, the: new and uncommon Sensations I was filled [with] on my first traversing this beautiful and picturesque Country ... It appeared Magick Land - In fact I had copied so many Studies of the great Man, & my Old Master, Richard Wilson ... that I insensibly became familiarized with Italian Scenes, and enamoured of Italian forms ( ibid. p. 55).From May 1780 to August 1783 Jones was based in Naples and delighted in the picturesque scenery on the road to Santa Maria dei Monti, a monastery to the east of Naples of which a number of drawings by him are known. He was influenced by the fashionable work of Salvator Rosa, with its treatment of banditti in rocky landscapes. His old friend Francis Towne arrived in Naples in March 1781, and, in his memoirs, Jones describes their trip along the wild road to the monastery : I was able to conduct him to many picturesque scenes of my own discovery, entirely out of the common road of occasional Visiters, either Cavaliers or Artists (Thomas Jones, ibid . p. 102). He drew the road many times- ten are listed in the 1970 Marble Hill catalogue- and further examples are included in the collections of the Tate, the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven and the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence.Two other drawings of the subject executed on 6 May, the same day as the present drawing, one coloured and one pencil and grey wash, are in the collection of the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester. They are of a similar size to the present work and a grey wash drawing (D2002.14) is taken from almost the same spot.Jones further recorded how he felt about this place in his Memoirs on 2nd June 1781 and another incident which he and Towne had experienced: I proceeded to meet Pars..at an Osteria in the road to S’a M’a de Monti- in this hollow Way is a most beautiful series of picturesque Objects, which I discovered by Accident in one of my perambulations-Here may visibly be traced the scenery that Salvator Rosa formed himself on-Only taking away Pine trees, which were, perhaps planted since his time, and which indicate a state of cultivation not suited to his gloomy mind, with the addition of Water and a few Banditti-And every hundred yards present you with a new sand perfect composition of that Master- When Towne was in Naples I took him with me to see this romantic place, with which he seemed much delighted- but the following whimsical incident put a stop to further explorations at that time and which I forgot to mention in its proper place- Proceeding up the valley whose boundaries contracted more and more as we advanced, increasing in proportion the Gloominess of the Scene; We arrived at a Spot, which might very properly have been termed the Land of Darkness & the Shadow of Death…Here, says I, Mr Towne, is Salvator Rosa in perfection we only want Banditti to compleat the picture- I had scarcely uttered these words when turning round a projection of the rocks, we all at once pop’d upon three ugly-looking fellows dressed in the fantastic garb of the Shirri di Campagna, with long knives cutting up a dead jackAss.-…Towne started back as if struck by an electric shock, strongly impressed, I suppose, with our late adventure on the Coast of Baja-‘I’ll go no further’, says he, with a most solemn face, adding with a forced smile, that however he might admire such scenes in a Picture- he did not relish them in Nature- (ibid. pp. 104-5).Thomas Jones’s reputation has soared in recent years, notably after the 2003 landmark exhibition Thomas Jones (1742-1803) An Artist Rediscovered (at the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, the National Gallery, London, and the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester) reinstated his reputation as one of the most idiosyncratic and innovative eighteenth-century British artists.Iolo Williams (1890-1962) was the author of Early English Watercolours (published in 1952), one of the bibles of the field. He left a large part of his collection to the British Museum, but this drawing was held back. He took a keen interest in Welsh matters, serving on the Council of the National Museum of Wales and on the Welsh Committee of the Arts Council.

Signed twice l.r., oil on paper34 x 30.2 cm; 13 2/5 x 11 9/10 inchesFramed in a black polished frameA commission for the Dunlop Rubber Company Limited and used as a full-page advertisement in 1953 to commemorate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in numerous publications including ‘The Queen’ and ‘The Illustrated London News’. A copy of one of the advertisements accompanies the painting. The accompanying text reads as follows:‘God Save the Queen. Once again this is a year of splendour for the Abbey in Westminster, which was built for prayer and for the anointing of Kings and Queens. Once again the triumphant trumpets give silver tongue and the people cry out “God Save the Queen” and the soft English daylight gains glory from gold and silver and precious jewels. Here, in this sacred place, time adds rich colour to the tapestry of history, as a new Queen, Elizabeth II, is anointed, crowned and enthroned. When the Queen departs from the Abbey, and the great throng is dispersed and the air is still, the glory will still be there, enshrined in this holy place, guardian of our faith and of our royal Succession.’Kelly was a New Zealand born painter, stage designer, graphic designer, interior designer and illustrator who lived in the UK from 1935. During World War II he served in the Royal Air Force as a navigating officer. He began to paint seriously in his spare time, his work influenced by the Surrealists and with a Romantic feel while always meticulously executed. He abandons nature’s topography and reinvents landscapes in a dreamlike world and his interest in architecture is often apparent in his paintings.His first one-man show was at the Lefevre Gallery in 1943, and its success led to another exhibition the following year, when pictures by Lucien Freud and Julian Trevelyan were shown in next door rooms. That year he received a commission to illustrate the art historian and critic Herbert Read’s ‘The Green Child’. Read was an early admirer of Kelly’s work and introduced him to a number of significant clients. The artist exhibited at Arthur Tooth from 1965-1974 and thereafter at Partridge Fine Art.Kelly was commissioned to paint murals and interior decoration in many of England’s most important houses, his good looks and charm fuelling his social popularity. At Castle Howard he executed four murals for the Garden Hall in 1982 and the ‘Kelly car’, a fairground-style train to take visitors around the grounds. His work enjoyed global acclaim, notably in the United States and as far away as Nepal where he decorated a room in the Royal Palace, Kathmandu. He also worked on developing architectural ideas, notably at Henbury Hall where he gothicised ‘The Cave’ for Sebastian de Ferranti and Highgrove where he refaced the Victorian facades and designed new plastered and pedimented frontispieces, returning the house to a more Georgian appearance for the Prince of Wales. He also painted murals in a number of Union Castle and Cunard liners.His work is included in the collections of Tate, Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums, Southampton City Museum, Grosvenor Museum, Chester, Sheffield Museums and the National Trust. The R.W. Norton Art Foundation in Louisiana has a holding of his work and his archive is in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand.LiteraturePaintings by Felix Kelly. Introduction by Herbert Read, London, 1946Michel Remy, Surrealism in Britain, Aldershot, 1999Donald Bassett, Fix, The Life and Art of Felix Kelly, Darrow PressDonald Bassett, Felix Kelly, Herbert Read and Neo-Romanticism, British Art Journal - Vol. 8 No. 2, September 2007

Watercolour over pencil on laid paper 37.5 x 53 cm.; 14 3⁄4 x 20 3⁄4 inchesFrame size 60 x 74.5 cm; 23 5/8 x 29 1⁄4 inchesProvenance: Thomas Agnew & Sons Ltd.Exhibited: Lupton’s Gallery, Eton College, 27 May – 10 September 2009, no. 11Labruzzi, the son of a weaver, studied at, and was later received into, the prestigious Accademia di San Luca, one of the few Italians in Rome who worked mainly as a landscape artist. His studio was one of those usually visited by British Grand Tourists and his work enjoyed contemporary popularity and commercial success.He accompanied the antiquarian Sir Richard Colt Hoare (1758-1838), of Stourhead in Wiltshire, along the Via Appia from Rome to Brindisi in 1789, commissioned to sketch the monuments along the way. Bad weather and Labruzzi’s ill-health stopped the trip however, and the project was never completed, but he drew over two hundred and fifty views. His patron had intended to publish an account of the journey with prints and had the drawings bound in five volumes. Labruzzi made some more finished drawings in sepia, some modified for reproduction, and twenty-four plates etched by him were issued by Colt Hoare as 'Via Appia illustrate ab Urbe Romam ad Capuam', published in 1794 (see Timothy Clifford, 'Carlo Labruzzi the Grand Tour', 2012, Dickinson exhibition catalogue).

KT340Watercolour heightened with bodycolour and gum arabic14 x 17.5 cm; 5 ½ x 6 ¾ inchesProvenanceCovent Garden GalleryShiva Lal ran an art shop in Patna and his work is characterised by the elongated limbs seen in the bearers of the palanquin and the delicate watercolour horizon in this drawing. Means of conveyance were one of the subjects in which he specialised.Further examples of his work can be found in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Inscribed and dated l.l.: Val Montone-17 Oct.br 1840., inscribed with artist’s notes, graphite26 x 39.7 cm; 10 1/4 x 15 5/8 inchesProvenanceSir Robin Darwin, R.A.;Lady Darwin;Spink, where bought by the present owner;Private collection, U.K.ExhibitedRoyal Academy, London, Edward Lear 1812-1888, 1985, no. 15i, ill p. 92Lear went to Italy in the summer of 1837. For most of the next ten years the artist wintered in Rome and toured other parts of Italy during the summer. He spent the winter months in and around Rome making frequent visits to the Campagna. He wrote in a letter to his sister Ann that Val Montone was: one of the most elegant campagna towns and very curious: it is in a deep dell in the Latin valley- but rises on a mound- crowned with a superb church and castle-though the town itself is wretchedly poor…Fine trees are all around Val Montone- and it is altogether a delightfully quiet place (recorded in the 1930s typescript of the lost manuscript of Lear’s letters to Ann, 11 October 1838).Another view of Val Montone is included in Views in Rome and its Environs, 1841, plate 25.Sir Robert Vere ‘Robin' Darwin KCB CBE RA RSA PRWA NEAC (1910 – 1974) was a British artist and Rector of the Royal College of Art. He was the son of the golf writer Bernard Darwin and his wife the engraver Elinor Monsell and a great-grandson of the naturalist Charles Darwin.

Signed, dated and inscribed l.r.: Napoli./EdwardLear./7.07.1840.-, pencil with white on blue paper17 x 24 cmProvenancePrivate Collection, London until 2017Lear lived in Rome from December 1837 until 1848 as part of an international community of artists, a happy and productive time in his artistic development. During the summers he travelled to other parts of Italy. This characteristic, crisp drawing heightened with white on blue paper is typical of his work of the period.

KT487Signed with monogram l.l., watercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour and gum arabic25.5 x 40 cm.; 10 x 15 ¾ inchesProvenanceSir Sacheverell Sitwell, Bt. (1897-1988);Francis Sitwell (1935-2004);By descent at Weston Hall, Northamptonshire until 2021Lear was invited to India by his friend and patron Lord Northbrook who was appointed Viceroy in 1871, and his journey there was the last and longest of his life. He was overwhelmed by the colour and vitality of India and enjoyed the bustle of Viceregal life. After leaving Lord Northbrook, Benares was one of the first places Lear visited, arriving on 12th December 1873.Lear describes Benares in his ‘Indian Journal’, on December 13-14 1873,(ed. Ray Murphy, 1953, pp. 45-6):‘Nothing short of a moving opera scene can give any idea of the intense and wonderful colour and detail of these Benares river banks…‘Got a boat, a large one, for on one can have the last idea of this Indian city’s splendour without this arrangement. Utterly wonderful is the rainbow-like edging of the water with thousands of bathers reflected in the river. Then the colour of the temples, the strangeness of the huge umbrellas and the inexpressibly multitudinous details of architecture costume etc. Drew, more or less, as I was slowly row’d up and down the river…Howe well I remember the views of Benares by Daniell, R.A.; pallid, gray, sad solemn. I had always supposed this a place of melancholy or at least a staid and soberly-coloured spot, a gray record of bygone days,. Instead, I find it one of the most abundantly bruyant, and startlingly radiant of places full of bustle and movement. ‘This drawing used to hang in Sir Sacheverell Sitwell’s study and dressing room at Weston Hall, Northamptonshire, where he did all his writing.

Inscribed and dated l.l.: Baths of Titus.Feb 4 40, pen and brown ink over pencil8.6 x 12.4 cm; 3 3/8 x 4 7/8 inches

Inscribed and dated l.r.: Amalphi./8 June. 1844, pen and brown ink on buff paper50 x 36 cmLear lived in Rome from 1841 until 1848 as part of an international community of artists. He had a comfortable income, as sales of his work went well. During the summers he travelled to other parts of Italy, producing fluent drawings such as the present example. His love of nonsense can be seen in the spelling of ‘Amalphi’.Provenance: Nicolas Powell (1920–86); thence by descent until 2017

KT486Signed with monogram l.l. and dated 1875, watercolour over pencil heightened with white25.5 x 39.7 cm.; 10 x 15 ¾ inchesProvenanceLady d’Avigdor Goldsmid;Caroline Stroude;Francis Sitwell (1935-2004);By descent at Weston Hall, Northamptonshire until 2021Hardwar, also called Gange-dward, the Ganges Gate, lies on the right bank of the Ganges, where the Ganges exits the Himalayan foothills North-East of Delhi. It is one of the seven sacred cities of the Hindu and an important pilgrimage site, which hosts the Kumbh Mela festival once every twelve years. A dip in the river Ganges here is believed to wash away one's sins and according to Hindu mythology, it is one of the four places where the drops of elixir ('Amrit') were accidentally spilled by the celestial bird Garuda.Lear arrived there on 2 April 1874 and stayed with Mr Jenkinson, a relative of his friend the Viceroy, Lord Northbrook, who had invited him to visit India. Lear was enchanted by the city, and wrote in his ‘Indian Journal’, ed. Ray Murphy, 1953, p. 113:“The beauty of the pagodas and shrines and houses here is indescribable, and the whole scene is perhaps the most beautiful I have seen anywhere in India’.On 5 April Lear drew the ghats (op. cit. p. 114):“The tall silver gray temples in shade, a side bit here and there catching bright light, are really beautiful, often half seen through a veil of light green or yellow foliage. …The colours of dresses amazing, women in apricot coloured shawls, rose coloured, scarlet, brown, all throwing flowers into the river.’….the mountains came out comparatively clear before lunch, so that I could really get an outline of the upper range, snows and all.’ He and his manservant Giorgio left Hardwar on 6 April.Francis Sitwell, the businessman and publicist, was the son of Sir Sacheverell Sitwell, 6th Bt and his wife Georgia.

Signed with monogram l.r., inscribed l.l.: Pentedatilo, watercolour and bodycolour on laid paper11.4 x 20.9 cm; 4½ x 8¼ inchesProvenance: Private collection, UK, until 2018.Literature: Jasmine Jagger, ‘Moving Lines’, Apollo, December 2018, pp. 87–91, ill. p. 91.One seem’d all dark and red – a tract of sand,And someone pacing there along,Who paced for ever in a glimmering land,Lit with a low large moon.Alfred, Lord Tennyson, ‘The Palace of Art’Lear’s close friendship of thirty-seven years with Tennyson inspired his ‘Painting=Sympathisations’, a proposed project of three hundred memories tied to three hundred poems, reflections of the relationship between painted word landscapes and written word paintings, described by Jasmine Jagger as open to a kind of synaesthesia. In her opinion, the finest examples of Lear’s poetrypainting can be found in the works he made of Pentedattilo. 1 Lear worked on the project on and off for thirty years, his drawings going through what he described as their egg, chrysalis and caterpillar stages. The final oil, or ‘butterfly’, of the painting of Pentedattilo was given by Lear to Tennyson’s oldest son Hallam and his bride Audrey as a wedding present, and was loved by the poet. Jagger suggests the present watercolour is the closest surviving version of this ‘butterfly’, with a distant speck of a hunched-over heron and its shadow replacing the figure seen in the multiple sketches of the subject. The lightly portrayed moon suggests the passage of time, and the dark lines over the sky have just faded. 2 The artist’s plan to illustrate Tennyson’s poems began to take shape in the summer of 1852, a couple of years after they met. Although their friendship had ups and downs, Lear’s affection for the poet’s wife, Emily, remained constant. Lear enjoyed selecting the lines of Tennyson’s poems on which to base his ‘Poetical Topographical’ project, and he began work on the scheme several times. In 1878 he finally got down to work in earnest, although the project was never completed, and Lear died with unfinished Tennyson canvases in his studio. Pentedattilo is an abandoned town in Calabria on Monte Calvario, a mountain whose shape once resembled that of five fingers: hence the name, from the Greek penta and daktylos (for five and fingers). It was badly damaged by an earthquake in 1783. Lear made a trip through southern Italy in 1847; his diary records his arrival on 30 July, at an elevated plateau whence the whole ‘Toe of Italy’ is finely discernible, a sea of undulating lines of varied forms down to the Mediterranean; a few towns glittered here and there, and towering over the southern extremity of land, a high cluster of rocks, the wild crags of Pentedátilo, particularly arrested our attention . 31. Jasmine Jagger, ‘Moving Lines’, Apollo, December 2018, pp. 87–91, ill. p. 91.2. Ibid.3. Edward Lear in Southern Italy: Journals of a Landscape Painter in Southern Calabria and the Kingdom of Naples, introduction by Peter Quennell, 1964, p. 41.

Extensively inscribed and dated 25. May 1863 4 P.M., numbered and inscribed on verso: 168/upright/next above lowest, pen and ink and watercolour6.9 x 19.5 cmLear drew this on the steamer Europa which he boarded from the island of Cerigo (present day Kythera) at 12.30 pm on 25 May 1863, having left in bright sunshine and with a rolling sea ‘too much to be pleasant’. His journal suggests that he drew the present drawing either at dinner, or just before, as this is recorded as having been served at 4 pm.See Houghton Library, Harvard University, MS Eng. 797.3, transcribed by Marco Graziani.

Signed with monogram l.r., watercolour over traces of pencil, inscribed on backboard: Lady Peyton /40 Wilton Crescent10.2 x 20.4 cm.; 4 1/8 x 8 inches, framed size 28 x 37 cm.; 11 x 14 1/2 inchesProvenanceLady Peyton, 40 Wilton Crescent, London;The Hon. Dorothy Gibbs, and thence by family descent;Christie’s, 17 November 2005, lot 103£5800In 1837, with financial assistance from his patron, Lord Derby (1775 -1851), the twenty-five-year-old Lear set off for Rome, where he was based for the following decade, which was a formative phase of his artistic development. During the summer months he would travel further afield in Italy, returning to Rome in the winter.Lear painted an oil sketch of this subject around 1839-1840, see Lady Strachey, The Letters of Edward Lear, 1907, p. 341.St John Lateran is considered to be the oldest church and Archbasilica in the world, founded by Pope Melchiade in 324 on the ruins of the villa of the Laterani family.

Inscribed ‘Etna 5 June 7pm 1864’ and with colour notes, numbered (183) l.r., pen and brown ink and watercolour, inscribed verso next below top/123 up/A (crossed out) A6.7 x 27 cm.; 6 5/8 x 10 ½ inchesProvenanceFine Art Society, where purchased on 30 June 1962 byMiss Rowell, Wylam, Northamptonshire, until 2022The numbering on this drawing suggests that it was done by Lear on his way back from Crete in June 1864. Lear spent seven weeks on the island. His last drawing, done in Hania was numbered 179.The artist first visited Sicily in 1842 and again in 1847 with his travelling companion John Proby. On this occasion he was passing after his travels in Crete.

KT586Inscribed and dated l.l.: 17 April.1864/6.40 PM./Canéa and indistinctly in pencil and numbered l.r.: (15) and again in pencil, pen and brown ink and watercolour22.5 x 34.5 cm.; 8 ¾ x 13 ½ inchesProvenanceCradock and Barnard, London;Christie’s, London 6 June 2002, lot 109;Maurice Edward Dear, from whom bought in 2008 byPeter Roberts, until 2023Edward Lear arrived in Crete on 11 April 1864 and stayed until 31 May.His diary tells us that he had a busy day on Sunday 17 April and sketched first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening (see ed. Rowena Fowler, Edward Lear The Cretan Journal, 2012, p. 15).Lear had a characteristically productive time on the island and referred to ‘196 drawings - & a vast number of small bits’ when working on his Cretan sketches in England in the summer of 1864.Peter Roberts was a school master and collector of English watercolours who taught English at Oundle School until his retirement in 2007.

Signed and dated l.r.: Edward Lear del.1839, inscribed l.l.: Capri from above Massa., pencil heightened with white on buff paper26 x 43 cm.; 10 ¼ x 16 7/8 inchesProvenanceEugene Thaw, New York; sold on 26 February 1973 to David Carritt, LondonLear spent his summers at the end of the 1830s travelling in Italy and first drew Massa in the summer of 1838 on 22nd August, a working drawing with extensive colour notes (Christie’s, 16 July 2014, lot 570, 10 x 14 inches). The present drawing relates quite closely to his first sketch. He returned to the subject again in 1840.

Inscribed in pen and brown ink with location in Greek l.r. and dated: 21. May 5 P.M. 1863 and again in pencil and numbered 189, further extensively inscribed with colour notes and comments, pen and brown ink and watercolour over pencil, inscribed and numbered verso: 159/Lon…?32 x 48 cm; 12 1/2 x 18 7/8 inchesThis view is taken looking across the northern part of the village, from northeast towards the southwest. Mt. Myrmingari can be seen in the centre background, and Aghia Elessa is the rise to the left.Lear’s extensive journal entry for 21st May 1863 finds him rising at 4 am and drawing much of the morning. After a lunch of cold fowl, old lettuce, ‘biled’ eggs and bad wine he continued climbing, enjoying the views until he reached the house of Pruestos where he sketched on the terrace in a high wind until 5 pm and lodged for the night. He noted that the Potamite women were tall and seems to have drawn one in the foreground of this drawing.Lear undertook a tour of the Ionian Islands (other than Corfu) from 3rd April to 4th June 1863, shortly before the British left the Ionian Islands and their incorporation into Greece in 1864. He used the drawings for a book, ‘Views in the Seven Ionian Islands’, which was published in London in December 1863.

Watercolour with gum arabic, inscribed on original label on reverse of mount: Burnham Beeches/F.R. Lee 185132.2 x 49.5 cm; 12 5/8 x 19 1⁄2 inchesProvenancePrivate collection, U.K. until 2022The artist was born in Barnstaple, Devon and joined the Royal Academy Schools in 1818. He lived in Kent for a while before returning to Devon in the 1840s, having been elected a Royal Academician in 1838. Nature was his enduring inspiration and he enjoyed considerable commercial success in his own lifetime. The extensive use of gum arabic by the artist in this work creates the effect of an intense greenwood which makes an interesting comparison with the oils on paper in this catalogue.Lee collaborated with contemporaries such as Sir Edwin Landseer (1802-1873) and Thomas Sidney Cooper (1803-1902), providing the backgrounds for paintings in which they painted the figures or animals.Burnham Beeches in Buckinghamshire is an historic area of largely beech and oak woodland which has been regularly pollarded, with many trees which are several hundreds of years old. An area of outstanding natural beauty, the woods were popular with nineteenth century artists.

Inscribed l.l.: No 1, watercolour over traces of pencil with touches of gum arabic and scratching out, inscribed with title and numbered on reverse of backing: Vue de l’embouchure de la Mer Noire, further inscribed in white bodycolour on a strip originally below the watercolour, now attached to the reverse of the frame: Vue d’une partie du Bosphore où l’on decouvre dans le lointain l’embouchure de la mer noire42 x 79 cmProvenancePrivate collection U.S.A., until 2016Engraved‘Le Voyage pittoresque de Constantinople et des rives du Bosphore d’après les dessins de M. Melling, architecte de l”Empereur Sélim III et dessinateur de la Sultane Hadidgé, sa soeur’, no. 44, published 1819, Paris, by Treutel and WürtzThis recently rediscovered original watercolour by Melling for his Voyage is an exciting addition to his known oeuvre and presents the mouth of the Bosphorus as if seen from a ship on the water. The focus of Melling’s great print epic of 1819, ’Voyage picturesque de Constantinople et des rives du Bosphore’ was water, a reflection of the geographical situation of the city of Constantinople with its wide panoramas, and the unifying thread of his book. This precisely detailed, large and highly finished watercolour is probably the watercolour he provided for the engravers to work from.After training in his uncle’s atelier in Karlsruhe, Melling travelled in Italy, Egypt and to Smyrna, before finally arriving in Constantinople circa 1784 in the retinue of the Russian ambassador, Count Yakov Ivanovich Bulgakov. He spent time in the Russian palaces at Pera and Büyükdere and also taught drawing to the son of the Dutch ambassador (Walter, op cit., chap. 4 note 4). It was his design of the garden for the Danish ambassador Baron Frederik von Hübsch, native of Pera and head of the Galata Bank Hübsch and Timoni, a friend of Selim III, which led to his introduction to his sister Hatice Sultane.Melling worked for Hatice for most of his time in Constantinople, designing the garden for her Bosphorus palace and a pavilion for it with all its interior decoration. Elisabeth Fraser describes him as a ‘kind of artistic director in residence’ (op. cit. p. 131), overseeing everything from flowers to the design of luxury items. He lived in the wing of Hatice’s palace occupied by her husband Sayyid Ahmed Pasha and was as close to her as a court servant could become. Their correspondence records that Melling taught her the Latin alphabet and they communicated in an invented script of Ottoman Turkish transcribed into Latin characters based on Italian phonetics with a few Italian words.Sultan Selim then asked Melling to renovate his favourite palace on the Bosphorus at Besiktas where he built a kiosk, a gallery, an apartment for the Valide Sultana and a quay with a balustrade. There were plans for Melling to build a kiosk at Sarayburnu, and he expected to be named Selim’s official architect and designer, but the project was abandoned when the French invaded Egypt in 1798 and Melling lost his position around 1800. His unique position as an imperial insider, patronised by Hatice Sultane and Selim III himself, gave him a profound and rare insight into Ottoman society, and this privileged position allowed him to draw the imperial residences as well as the opportunity to draw and paint many views of the city.Melling moved to France with an introduction to Talleyrand, French minister of foreign affairs in Paris, and his lavish travel book, conceived in 1801, received significant official support in 12,000 francs worth of shares. This ambitious book, unusually large in size, (each print is 2 1/2 x 3 1/4 feet) comprises forty-eight prints (in etching and engraving) and special attention was taken over the quality of the engravings, text and paper. He contracted with the experienced engraver François Denis Née, who had worked with Choiseul-Gouffier, Cassas and d’Ohsson, in March 1803, to supervise the engraving process. On 7 December that year they signed a second contract with Treuttel and Würtz, the libraires-imprimeurs. In it Melling agreed to produce two versions of each image, an engraver’s version in black and white and a watercolour. Melling was forbidden from producing any competing work on Constantinople until a bound copy of his original watercolours was sold (see Boschma and Perot, op cit. pp.38-9). The publishers then took over the control of the book production of which 700 copies were projected. ‘Voyage pittoresque’ was sold by subscription and in thirteen livraisons from 1807-1819, three prospectuses were also produced in 1804, 1816 and 1819 as was a subscribers list which included many sovereigns; the kings of France, Spain and Sweden, the emperors of Austria and Russia, aristocrats, diplomats, dragomans and booksellers (see E. Fraser, op cit. pp 132-4).Melling and his publishers cultivated official connections at the highest level and in 1802 he met with the the three consuls then ruling France and presented two watercolours to Consul Bonaparte (now in the Musée Bonaparte at château Arenenberg on the Bodensee, see Boppe, op. cit, p. 252-255, ill.). They kept Napoleon abreast of the project, even sending the first livraision to him at his military camp in Poland and asking for his sponsorship and permission to dedicate the work to him. The plan seems to have worked as Napoleon’s personal interest in the project is recorded and evidence of its significance. Josephine was also presented with drawings from the first livraision at an audience at Saint Cloud in 1807 and she bought further watercolours by Melling the following year (of which four are now in the château Arenenberg). Drawings for the project were shown at Salon exhibitions in 1804, 1806, 1810 and 1812 and Melling won a gold medal in 1810.The ‘Voyage pittoresque’ was a departure from the other Ottoman travel books of the period in its detailed focus on Constantinople and its environs, linked by the Bosphorus. Choiseuel-Gouffier in his ‘Voyage picturesque de la Grèce’ focussed on Greece and antiquity, the Swedish diplomat and author d’Ohsson in his ‘Tableau General de l’Empire Othoman’, 1790, was primarily interested in Ottoman institutions,mosques, tombs, religious practices and history. The text of the ‘Voyage pittoresque’ makes frequent references to Melling’s long stay in Constantinople and his proximity to the court to add authority and authenticity to the work. The book made Melling’s reputation if not his fortune.Melling’s work is neatly described by Elisabeth Fraser (op cit. p. 136) as a ‘navigational narrative’, with over half the prints illustrating views along Istanbul’s major waterways, the Bosphorus Strait and the Golden Horn, reinforced by the descriptions of arrival in the accompanying text. The sequence of the images take the reader on a journey through the city and its environs approaching it via the water route from the Mediterranean. From Tenedos (Bozcaada) and the Aegean, continuing via the Dardanelles at the end of which Constantinople can be seen in the distance. The the city is approached and then about six plates show places within it, Galata, Pera, Eyüp, Tophane, Besiktas, Scutari and Topkapi. Then the voyage continues along the water onto the Golden Horn, up the Bosphorus and to the Black Sea, which defines the northern end of the river and the end of suburban Istanbul. The size of the prints reflect the panoramas and their uniformity increases the drama of the voyage. It also reflects the secular eighteenth century city with the Imperial centre firmly based around the Bosphorus (see S. Hamade, op cit.)BibliographyAuguste Boppe, ‘Les Peintres du Bosphore au XVIIIe siècle, Paris 1911, reprint Paris: ACR 1989;Stanford J. Shaw, Between old and new: the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Selim III, 1789-1807, Cambridge, Mass., 1971;Shrine Hamadeh, ‘The City’s Pleasures: Istanbul in the Eighteenth Century’, Seattle’: University of Washington Press, 2008;Cornelis Boshma and Jaques Perot, eds. Antoine-Ignace Melling, (1763-1831): Artiste voyageur, Paris, 1992;Elisabeth A. Fraser, ‘Mediterranean Encounters- Artists between Europe and the Ottoman Empire, 1774-1839’, Pennsylvania State University Press, 2017I am grateful to Professor Elisabeth Fraser, for her comments about this watercolour from an image. My account owes much to her recent scholarship on the subject.

Signed, inscribed and dated in pencil on original mount: Jacob More Rome 1778/A VIEW OF THE CASCADE AT NEPTUN‘S [sic] GROTTO AT TIVOLI, pen and grey ink and watercolour over traces of pencil on laid paper(Image size) 45 x 36.3 cm.; 17 3⁄4 x 14 1⁄4 inchesFrame size 61 x 51 cm.; 24 x 20 inchesProvenance: Martyn Gregory GalleryExhibited: Lupton’s Gallery, Eton College, 27 May – 10 September 2009, no. 19Born in Edinburgh, More settled in Rome in 1773 where he lived for twenty years, elected to the Accademia di San Luca in 1784. He achieved a reputation which surpassed all other British artists then working in Italy. More was hailed as the English Claude and charged increasingly high prices for his work. He sent paintings back to the Royal Academy in London regularly for exhibition.Waterfalls were much painted by More, their inherent drama suiting the concept of the Sublime (see Patricia R. Andrew, Jacob More Biography and a Checklist of Works: The Volume of the Walpole Society, 1989/1990, Vol. 55 (1989/1990), pp. 105-196).The cascades at Tivoli were one of the best-known sites of Italy. J.R. Cozens also sketched there in 1778, and many visitors marvelled at the huge quantity of water which crashed onto the black rocks below. Neptune’s Grotto or Lair was situated below the cascades, its cluster of mossy rocks a highly picturesque spot. More chose to paint himself in front of the Grotto in his self-portrait, which hangs in the Vasari Corridor of the Uffizi in Florence, its acceptance further enhancing his reputation.

Watercolour over pencil with touches of gum arabic16.7 x 11.1 cm.;6 5/8 x 4 3/8 inchesProvenanceRev. James Bulwer (1794-1879), by descent;The Palser Gallery, St James’s, London;Unidentified auction, 24 March 1981, lot 53;Christopher and Rosemary Warren until 2020ExhibitedThe Palser Gallery, 27 King Street, St James’s, no. 51St Stephen’s church can be seen clearly from Marsh Street in the centre of Bristol.The Rev. James Bulwer (1794-1879) was a pupil of John Sell Cotman and the owner of a fine collection of British watercolours.

Signed l.l.: J Nash., pen and brown ink and watercolour over traces of pencil8 x 14.4 cm.; 3 1/8 x 5 ¾ inchesFramed size 22 x 28 cm.; 8 ½ x 11 inchesEngravedBy W. Taylor for Paris and its Environs, Displayed in a Series of Two Hundred Picturesque Views, from Original Drawings, Taken Under the Direction of A. Pugin, Esq. the Engravings Executed Under the Superintendence of Mr. C. Heath. With Topographical and Historical Descriptions, (1828 - 1831)This drawing dates from 1829 and records the building before 29 July 1830, when there was a famous fire at this site, causing significant damage.Joseph Nash was born in Great Marlow, Buckinghamshire. He was the eldest son of Okey Nash, who took holy orders and became the proprietor of the Manor House School, North End, Croydon where Nash was educated, and displayed early talent at drawing.Around 1827 Nash entered the architect’s office of Augustus Charles Pugin, at 105 Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London, to learn the art of architectural drawing. Two years later, he and his fellow apprentices accompanied Pugin on a trip to France toproduce drawings for Paris and its Environs (1830). He developed his skill as a lithographer, and also prepared Pugin’s drawings for Views Illustrative of the Examples of Gothic Architecture (1830).

Watercolour over traces of pencil with scratching out15 x 22.5 cm; 5 ⅞ x 8 ⅞ inchesProvenance: The Flannery collection, UK, and by descent until 2018.Engraved: By A. C. Allen, 1824.Literature: Huon Mallalieu, The Dictionary of British Watercolour Artists up to 1920, 2002, vol. II, illustrated, p. 68.This bustling fruit and vegetable market on the site of the current covered market shows Covent Garden in full swing, with baskets and wheelbarrows much in evidence. The root vegetables on sale suggest it was drawn in the autumn. The market was known for being disorderly, with few passageways leading into the piazza, which regularly became congested, causing fights. Many vendors did not pay the tolls, and the Earl of Bedford, owner of the piazza, having taken many people to court for non-payment, had a new market built in 1830 which divided vendors into sections.St Paul’s, Covent Garden, and most of the buildings shown are still present today.Nash was a builder’s son who studied architectural drawing under Thomas Malton, attended the RA Schools and started his career as an architectural draughtsman. In 1807 he was appointed architectural draughtsman to the Society of Antiquaries and worked for them for many years. He was based in London until the mid 1830s when he moved to Brighton.

Windermere with the village of Bowness and the Langdale PikesWatercolour over pencil, inscribed on original mount: Windermere, with the village of Bownesfs, in the original English Carlo section frame30 x 41.6 cm.; 11 ¾ x 16 3/8 inchesProvenance: Private collection Scotland, until 2019Francis NicholsonFrancis Nicholson was born in Pickering, Yorkshire on 14 November 1753, the son of a weaver. A founder member of the Society of Painters in Water-Colours he was dubbed ‘The Father of Watercolour Painting’ by his contemporaries. These beautiful drawings probably date from 1792-3 and represent the very best of his work, perfectly capturing the distinctive light and colour of the Lake District.He lived the first thirty years of his life in various Yorkshire towns, learning from local teachers and painting portraits and animals, mainly in oils. He made two visits to London and took lessons from C.N. Metz.In 1783 he settled in Whitby and took up landscape painting in watercolour, and first exhibited at the R.A. in 1789. An important early patron was Lord Bute who commissioned him to travel to the Isle of Bute to make a set of paintings.He toured the Lake District with Sir Henry and Lady Tuite circa 1795 and they remained important friends and patrons until Sir Henry’s death in 1805.Nicholson was commissioned by his patron Walter Fawkes of Farnley Hall in Yorkshire, also an important early collector of J.M.W. Turner, to provide him with numerous watercolours of views of the Lakes. Nicholson and Fawkes corresponded in 1798 on several occasions and Fawkes waxed lyrical about the artist’s work (R. Davies, “Francis Nicholson: Some Family Letters and Papers”, Old Water-Colour Society’s Club, 1930-1, Vol. VII, London 1931, pp. 15-30).Around this time Nicholson pioneered a new process of watercolour whereby he stopped out light areas with a mixture of beeswax and turpentine coloured with flake-white. This allowed the application of a wash, the removal of the solution in a few areas, further application of more washes, until the multiple washes gave depth to the shadows while the remaining areas were beautifully graded in tone. Finally the highlights were applied in brilliant colour. Nicholson demonstrated this technique to the Society of Arts in 1799. In the 'Transactions of the Society' later in the year watercolours done up to that time were described as ‘stained drawings’ and it was stated that Nicholson’s new method had produced a breakthrough allowing watercolours to be regarded as ‘proper paintings’ ('Transactions of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts etc', Vol. 17 (1799), p. 296).Nicholson resigned from the Society of Painters in Watercolours in 1813, comfortably off and to concentrate on his flourishing work as a drawing master. His professional success enabled him to develop experimental techniques in his later years and he was a pioneer in the development of lithography in England.In the Nicholson sale of 1844 lots 117-119 list 117 sketches of Cumberland and Westmoreland drawn between 1794 – 1807.Examples of Nicholson’s work can be found in most major British public collections.BibliographyR. Davies, 'Francis Nicholson: Some Family Letters and Papers', Old Water-Colour Society’s Club, 1930-1, Vol. VII, London 1931B.S. Long, 'Francis Nicholson, Painter and Lithographer’, Walker’s Quarterly, no. 14, January 1924, Walker’s Galleries, London;G. Bell, C. Coulson and J. Dixon, ‘Francis Nicholson (1753-1844)’, 2012

Watercolour over traces of graphite35.8 x 51.5 cmThis is drawn from the same vantage point as that used by James ‘Athenian’ Stuart in the 1750s and Dodwell and Pomardi in 1805. Dodwell wrote that the cave which Pausanias mentions in the rock above the theatre of Bacchus, is probably the same as that which is dedicated to the Holy Virgin of the Grotto [Panagia Spelaiotissa],and which is enclosed by a modern wall, built between the pillars of the choragic monument of Thrasyllos the Decleian... It is a structure of Pentelic marble, simple, elegant, and highly finished. Its entire height is twenty-nine feet five inches ... it receives a dim and mysterious light, through two small apertures in the modern wall, by which a singular and picturesque effect is produced.The monument was built in 320–319 BC to display a bronze tripod won in a victory for the men’s chorus, and was later converted into a Christian chapel. Standing on the southern slopes of the Acropolis above the theatre of Dionysos, it was still almost intact at the time of Page’s visit. The façade was badly damaged during the Greek War of Independence in the second siege of the Acropolis from August 1826 to June 1827.Pausanias records that the interior showed Apollo and Artemis killing the children of Niobe. A marble sundial can be seen to the east of the building.

Signed and inscribed l.r.: PARTHENON./ATHENS/W.PAGE, pen and brown ink over traces of graphite63.5 x 97 cmThis drawing, made with the aid of a camera obscura, depicts the east end of the south side of the Parthenon and clearly shows the empty spaces left after the removal of the sculpted metopes in 1801 by Giovanni Battista Lusieri and his team, acting on the instructions of Lord Elgin. Edward Dodwell witnessed the removal of some of these metopes, which were fixed between the triglyphs, causing the destruction of the cornice which covered them, as it had to be thrown to the ground in order to lift them out. Most of the metopes on the south side depict Centaurs fighting Greeks, and the fifteen metopes in the British Museum today all come from here. The original position of eight of them is shown in this drawing and would have been of great interest to the British public.The Parthenon was used as a powder store by the Ottomans, who held the Acropolis during its bombardment by the Venetians in 1687. The attack inflicted significant structural damage on the building, as recorded in this drawing. The small mosque was built in the ruins circa 1700, and a minaret was made from the old bell-tower. The mosque was demolished in 1840.

Watercolour over traces of graphite28.9 x 41.5 cmThis watercolour is drawn in the artist’s mature style.Sardis in antiquity was the capital of the Lydian Empire and one of the great cities of Asia Minor. Today the site is near the village of Sart in western Turkey’s Manusa province. The early Lydian kingdom was an advanced centre of carpet manufacturing and dyeing. During the reign of Croesus, the last Lydian king, the secret of separating gold and silver was discovered, which made the city rich before it was conquered by the Persians in the mid-sixth century BC.Cybele was the patron goddess of the city, and the temple, datable to the 6th century BC, is one of the earliest representations of the Ionic style.

Graphite38 x 55 cmThis drawing, made with aid of a camera obscura, shows the picturesque temple of Jupiter Panhellenius, which stands on Mount Panhellion and commands a view of the Saronic Gulf. The temple is dedicated to Aphaia, a goddess whose cult was found only at Aegina, and it is one of the loveliest late Archaic temples in Greece. In 1811 C. R. Cockerell and Baron Haller von Hallerstein excavated the site and found the fallen pedimental sculpture from the temple, dating from circa 510 to 490 BC. Seventeen of the statues that they excavated were acquired by Ludwig I of Bavaria, and are today in the Glyptothek in Munich.Pomardi drew this view from the same spot on Mount Panhellion He and Dodwell evidently liked Aegina, and they produced nearly thirty drawings of the temple and its surroundings.

Inscribed u.l.: Parthenon. Athens-Erectheum, graphite37.5 x 54.5 cmThis drawing, made with the aid of a camera obscura, clearly shows the extent of the rubble of the fallen parts of the Parthenon. The drawing appears to have been carefully reinforced, presumably by Page at a later date. A more worked-up watercolour of this view measuring 20.3 x 29.8 cm was in the collection of J. H. Money in 1972. That work is signed and inscribed ‘ATHENS’ in block capitals similar to those which the artist uses in catalogue nos. 1 and 3.The Erectheion, which dates from the end of the fifth century BC, stands to the north of the Parthenon. Both temples were converted into Christian basilicas, thought to be in the seventh century AD, when the interiors were gutted.

Watercolour over traces of graphite, inscribed verso: at Ephesus, possibly in a later hand29.3 x 41.8 cmThe harbour baths are situated in front of the theatre, which can be seen to the left behind them in this drawing. The area, which was originally built in the period of the Emperor Domitian (AD 81-96), also had a gymnasium, a sports area and meeting rooms. The holes in the brick are typical and show where the marble revetment was fixed. A similar view by Page, of almost identical size, but with sketchier figures and from a slightly different vantage point, is in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Signed and inscribed l.r.: PARTHENON/ATHENS. W. PAGE, pen and brown ink over traces of graphite65.5 x 94.8 cmThis meticulously observed drawing, made with the aid of a camera obscura, shows a close-up view of the western front of the Parthenon, with the sculpted frieze depicting Amazons fighting Greeks shown in detail. The two statues of the daughters of Kekrops, which stayed on the building until about 1980, can be seen on the pediment.A large, finished watercolour of this view (measuring 66 x 101.5 cm and signed and dated1841), with carefully drawn architectural detail, was presumably based on the present drawing, and is now in the collection of the American School of Classical Studies, Gennadius Library, Athens. This is almost certainly Page’s signed and dated Royal Academy exhibit of 1841, no. 1106, The west front of the Parthenon.The present drawing and catalogue no. 3 appear to be unique in Page’s known oeuvre, both for their large size and for being done on the spot.

Inscribed u.r.: Cape Colonna, graphite on paper watermarked S & C WISE/181443.5 x 59.9 cmThe early watermark on the paper of this drawing, made with the aid of a camera obscura, provides a terminus a quo, although it seems unlikely that Page drew this before his first Royal Academy exhibit of 1816, as he would probably still have been studying at the RA Schools in 1814. It is more likely that it is a sheet of paper which he took with him when he left on his travels.Cape Sounion, a promontory at the southernmost tip of the Attica peninsula, surrounded by the sea on three sides, is one of the loveliest sites in Greece. The Doric temple, seen here from the north-northwest, is dated to circa 440 BC. Dodwell wrote that the fallen columns are scattered about below the temple, to which they form the richest foreground.

Inscribed u.l.: Temple of Jupiter Olympus Athens, graphite38 x 52.5 cmConstruction of the Temple of Zeus Olympios was begun in the Doric order in the sixth century BC under the Peisistradid tyranny, but was discontinued after its fall. A new version in the Corinthian order was commenced by Antiochos IV of Syria (175–164 BC). When it was completed some 300 years or so later, around AD 131–2, in Hadrian’s reign, it was by far the largest building in Athens.The brick structure upon the architrave of the two western columns of the middle range is supposed to have been built as an aerial retreat around 1209 by Nicholas de la Roche, the canon of Athens. It measured three feet high, twenty feet long and seven feet wide, and was removed circa 1870.This drawing was made with the aid of a camera obscura. Page has left the fluting of the columns unfinished, although the capitals are carefully observed.

Inscribed u.r.: Ruins of [.....]/Pergamon, graphite45.2 x 59.9 cmCockerell described the ampitheatre as an extraordinary building. It stands in a narrow valley astride of a river. The two sides of the valley make the two ends of the oval, and the middle stands upon arches under which the river runs. It is half a mile from Pergamon.Near modern day Bergama in Turkey, Pergamon was a great centre of Greek culture and flourished under Eumenes II (197–159 BC), who was responsible for the construction of most of its main public buildings. It reached its heyday under Imperial Rome and grew hugely under Hadrian, with its sanctuary becoming one of the most important healing centres in the Roman world. Its library was second only to that of Alexandria.In 1842 Page exhibited at the Royal Academy a watercolour entitled Ruins of the Amphitheatre at Pergamos, Asia Minor, no. 892, which may be presumed to be based upon the present drawing, which was made with the aid of a camera obscura.Giovanni Battista Borra, the architect and artist who accompanied Robert Wood on his travels in Greece and the Levant in 1750–51, also drew this view.

Inscribed with title u.c.: TEMPLE OF APOLLO DIDYMAEUS. HIERONDASPen and brown ink over traces of graphite, on two sheets, joined43 x 114 cmThe Temple of Apollo at Didyma (now Didim in Turkey), on the coast of Ionia, housed the most renowned oracle in the ancient world after Delphi and was the largest and most significant sanctuary on the territory of the city of Miletus. Destroyed by the Persians in 494 BC, the oracle was re-consecrated by Alexander the Great around 334 BC. A new peripteral temple, surrounded by a double file of Ionic columns, was started, although never finished.The village of Hieronda, also known as Ura, was built on the site and was referred to and stayed at by Richard Chandler, who led an expedition for the Society of the Dilettanti in1764–6. Extensive excavations on the site, led initially by the British and French and now by the Germans, have revealed most of the temple and much of the sacred way.The two standing columns in Page’s drawing, which was made with the aid of a camera obscura, can still be seen at the site today.

Watercolour over graphite38 x 52.7 cmThis drawing gives a good view of the aerial residence on top of the architrave of the two western columns of the middle range. It is very similar in style to catalogue nos. 7 and 11, and exhibits the clear washes of Page’s earlier style. The figures appear slightly elongated.In 1843 Page exhibited a view of this temple at the Royal Academy (no. 1195).Two large later views of the temple by Page, from different vantage points and measuring 66 x 101 cm and 63 x 97 cm, were sold at Sotheby’s in 1991.Lady Ruthven may have made a copy of this drawing, which is now in the National Gallery of Scotland.

Pen and grey ink over graphite on two sheets of grey paper, joined43.7 x 114.6 cmThis drawing, made with the aid of a camera obscura, shows the extent to which modern houses covered the Acropolis in 1819. Page commented on the juxtaposition of ancient and modern Athens in an informative inscription on the reverse of a drawing of the Acropolis in a private collection in Athens: A ramble though Athens in any direction, must be pursued, through a confused assemblage of well - built houses of recent construction, of miserable houses raised among the ruins of former habitations, and of ruined churches and houses . . . In the midst of the latter you may frequently observe some half-buried column or massive fragment of an antique wall or foundation thrown in to bolder relief by the mean and insignificant proportions of the remains. This anomalous [combination] of two epochs, of the past with the present, so widely different from both, is a peculiarity which will a wake the imagination of the least speculative. William Gell, the artist and antiquarian, noted that the weak mud brick construction of the houses caused seventeen houses to collapse during rain storms between 1805 and 1821.In this drawing the Erectheion, the Ionic temple of Athena Polias, can be seen to the left, with the conical hill of Lykabettos to its left.Simone Pomardi, Edward Dodwell’s companion in Greece in 1805–1806, drew a similar view from behind the Gate of the Propylaea, which is just behind the columns at the front of the present drawing.

Inscribed verso: Temple of Cybele. Sardis, watercolour over traces of graphite on paper watermarked JWHATMAN TURKEY MILL 182836 x 56.5 cmThis is a view of the temple from the east, with the Sardis acropolis in the background.Sardis was the capital of the Lydian Empire of the eighth century BC. It was a trading centre between the Greeks and the Persians, as the camel train in the drawing reflects, and became a Greek city state after 282 BC. The site is near the present-day village of Sart in the Manusa province of Turkey, about 45 miles east of Izmir. Cybele was the patron goddess of the city, and the temple is one of the earliest representations of the Ionic style.This watercolour is very faithful to the original topography of Sardis, without the dramatisation of the landscape usually found in eighteenth and nineteenth century views of the site. The contours and proportions of the city’s acropolis are perfectly observed, including a small salient on the left that is still called the ‘flying towers’, as are those of the range of Tmolos mountains to the right in the distance. Also drawn accurately is the small hill just behind the temple on which the archaeologist H. C. Butler built the excavation house in 1911, and which is still prominent today.By the time Page could have visited Sardis there were only three columns standing, as recorded by Cockerell who visited the site in 1812. Page may have copied the work of an earlier visitor in the eighteenth century, when Chandler records five standing columns. Cockerell records that the other two were blown up by a Greek who thought he might find gold in them.