Anthony Devis Furness Fells, South Lakeland

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 JWHATMAN

38 x 54 cm; 15 x 21 1/4 inches

Provenance: Sotheby’s 15 July 1976, lot 151;

Where bought by the previous owner, the Pemberton collection until 2019

The 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.