John Linnell Near Windsor

Daniel Maclise , R.A. (1806-1870) A seated girl reading in a doorway Pencil 13.5 x 8 cm.; 5 ¼ x 3 1/8 inches Provenance Covent Garden Gallery Ltd. Daniel Maclise was born in Cork to a family of Scottish descent. After a brief period working in a bank, Maclise’s passion for drawing led him to pursue a career in art which he studied at the Cork Society of Arts. He moved to London in 1826 to attend the Royal Academy where he excelled as a student, particularly in life drawing and history painting. He began exhibiting in the RA in 1829, was made an associate in 1830, and an academician in 1840.

KT663 Thérèse Lessore (1884 – 1945) In a Belgian Train Signed and dated l.r.: Lessore/1921, watercolour over pencil, with a pencil outline, inscribed in pencil with title beneath mount l.r.: in a Belgian train Image 23 x 26.5 cm.; 9 x 10 3/8 inches, full sheet 28 x 32 cm.; 11 x 12 5/8 inches Provenance Bonhams, London, 17 November 1988, lot 27; Sandra Lumis Fine Art, London; Bernard Kelly, bought from the above, his sale at Lyon and Turnbull, London, 15 January 2025, lot 225 The artist came from an artistic family and was the daughter of the painter Jules Lessore (1849-1892) and sister of the sculptor Frederick Lessore (1879-1951). Born in Brighton, she attended the South-Western Polytechnic Art School and the Slade School of Fine Art from 1904–9, where she won the Melville Nettleship Prize for Figure Composition. She exhibited regularly at the New English Art Club and the Goupil Gallery, and had her first solo exhibition at Eldar Gallery, with a catalogue preface written by Walter Sickert. She was a founder member of The London Group, the artist-run organisation of radical painters which grew out of The Camden Town Group, where she was to exhibit regularly. Lessore was amongst the most talented female artists of The London Group. She married firstly the artist Bernard Adeney and in then 1926 she married Walter Sickert, as his third wife. He described her as “a Persian miniature”. The two artists shared a love of the music-hall and the circus which feature in both their work. Her contributions to exhibitions at The London Group were fewer after her marriage to Sickert who was 24 years her senior and for whom she cared and acted as his artist’s assistant. This acutely observed watercolour of two fellow passengers observed by the artist in Belgium a few years after the end of WWI verges on caricature.

Inscribed and dated l.l.: Monte Generoso/1879, and further inscribed with colour notes, pen and brown ink over pencil 25 x 51.5 cm; 9 7/8 x 20 1/4 inches £8500 Lear returned to Varese and Monte Generoso, on the border between Italy and Switzerland between lakes Lugano and Como, from June 29 to September 22 1879. He stayed at Mendrisio, across the Swiss border in Ticino. He enjoyed sketching the views south across the plains, as in the present watercolour and the mountains stretching up to the Alps. Marianne North the botanical artist came to Como towards the end of his stay and they made a trip to Monte Civita near Monza together. This drawing is taken from a similar vantage point to that of an oil of the same subject dated 1880 in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum (WA196.39). An unpublished poem “The Lays of the Octopods’ about the perils of mass tourism at Monte Generoso has recently come to light in the British Library.

This group of nineteen distinctive depictions of fruit and vegetables from South-East Asia are inscribed with titles in Indian English (possibly in Romanised Hindi) and drawn on European laid paper which is variously watermarked. There are three different numbering systems on the sheets. Many of the fruit and vegetables, such as the durian, are more commonly found in South-East Asia rather than on the Indian subcontinent, suggesting that it is possible that the drawings may have been made for a European patron in South-East Asia. Stylistically the drawings have many of the characteristics of the ‘Straits School’, a hybrid Indo-Chinese style. 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 work of Chinese artists is rarer than that of Indian artists and tends to be a little later in date. British patrons commissioned local artists to draw the flora and fauna of India and other areas of South-East Asia. Such work is typically annotated with botanical notes in native script, romanised versions of native descriptions, Latin and with reference to the Linnaean system of classification, created by Carl Linnaeus (1707-78). 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 being made all over the known world. The collecting of specimens was the basis of most natural history drawings, plants were pressed and dried and the drawings recorded the specimen in its living shape and colours. This group of fruit and vegetables are found in various parts of South-East Asia. Some are common others are less well known. The collection is presented mounted in a hand-made solander box. Brinjala (Aubergine) Inscribed l.r.: Brinjala and numbered ninety-five, N106 and 96, watercolour, bodycolour and gum arabic on wove paper 31.7 x 20.5 cm.; 12 ½ x 8 1/8 inches Aubergine is known as brinjal in South-East Asia. Mangosteen Inscribed l.r.: mongostan, numbered ninety-seven. N 97 and 101, watercolour and gum arabic on laid paper watermarked IFD 31.7 x 20.5 cm.; 12 ½ x 8 1/8 inches Mangosteens grow in South East Asia, particularly in Indonesia. It is a juicy, slightly acidic fruit and it is also used in traditional medicine. Ratahouli (pepper) Inscribed l.c.: Ratahouli, numbered ninety-five, N107 and 1010, watercolour and gum arabic on laid paper watermarked HIS/GD 33 x 23 cm.; 13 x 9 inches Cashew Inscribed Rajab, numbered ninety-eight, N109 and 1012, watercolour and gum arabic on laid paper 33 x 23 cm.; 13 x 9 inches The cashew tree is a tropical evergreen tree that produces the cashew seed and the cashew accessory fruit. The nut can be seen growing from the bottom of the fruits in the drawing, both green and then brown once it has ripened. Jambu Air (Szygium Aqueum) Inscribed l.c.: jambol, numbered A Hundred, N111 and 1019, watercolour and gum arabic on laid paper watermarked HIS 33 x 23 cm.; 13 x 9 inches This is a special of the brush cherry tree; its common names include watery rose apple and bell fruit. Chilli Inscribed l.r.: fjoli, numbered ninety-one, N100 and 105, watercolour and gum arabic on laid paper watermarked with a crest 33 x 23 cm.; 13 x 9 inches Pomegranate Inscribed l.r. ramangh, numbered A hundred and three, N114 and 1019, watercolour and gum arabic on laid paper watermarked HIS 33 x 23 cm.; 13 x 9 inches Papaya Watercolour and gum arabic inscribed l.r. papaya, numbere ninety-nine, N100 and 1013, on laid paper watermarked with a crest 32.5 x 23 cm.; 12 ½ x 9 inches Durian Inscribed l.r.: doorian, numbered eighty-five, N94 and 96, watercolour and gum arabic on laid paper 32.7 x 23 cm.; 12 ¾ x 9 inches The durian, with its spiny outer shell and moist, pungent flesh can weigh up to seven pounds. These large fruits grow on trees, have a short period of ripeness and their cultivation is difficult. The durian is famously not allowed on public transport in Singapore on account of its unpleasant smell. Lobed tropical tomato Inscribed l.r.: samati, numbered ninety, N100 and 109, watercolour with touches of gum arabic on laid paper 32 x 21 cm.; 12 ½ x 8 ¼ inches Berlimbing Inscribed l.r.: blinbingh, numbered A hundred and two, N113 and No 16, on laid paper watermarked HIS 33 x 23 cm.; 12 ¾ x 9 inches Berlimbing, also known as bling bling or berling berling, is a sour fruit used in curries. Buah Chiku (Sapodilla, Chikoo, Sapota or Naseberry) Inscribed l.r.: boa sawa, numbered ninety-three, N104 and 104, watercolour and gum arabic with touches of bodycolour on laid paper partially watermarked with the Strasburg Lily 33 x 23 cm.; 13 x 9 inches This appears to be Buah Sawo or Chiku, but the identification of this plant is open to question. Ban Branjahr (?) Inscribed l.r.: Ban Branjarh (?), numbered eight eight, N90 and 102, watercolour, bodycolour and gum arabic on laid paper, watermarked 31.7 x 20.5 cm.; 12 ½ x 8 1/8 inches This plant has not been identified. Lotus Inscribed l.c.: Fratil, numbered ninety-seven, N108 and 1011, watercolour and gum arabic, watermarked with a crest 33 x 23 cm.; 13 x 9 inches This drawing shows the lotus head with seeds after it has flowered. It is the seed of plants in the genus Nelumbo and the seeds are used in Asian cooking and traditional medicine. Melon (probably watermelon) Inscribed l.r.: patuka, numbered ninety-two N103 and 106, watercolour and gum arabic on laid paper 33 x 23 cm.; 13 x 9 inches Mango Inscribed l.r.: Manga, numbered A Hundred and one, N112 and 1015, watercolour and gum arabic 31.7 x 20.5 cm.; 12 ½ x 8 1/8 inches Longan Inscribed l.r.: froita lanja, numbered eight nine, N99 and 103, watercolour and gum arabic on laid paper watermarked with a crest 32.2 x 21 cm.; 12 ½ x 8 ¼ inches Rambutan Inscribed l.r.: frouita kafri, numbered eighty-six, N96 and 100, watercolour and gum arabic 32 x 21 cm.; 12 ½ x 8 ¼ inches Buah Gowok (Syzgium polycephalum) Inscribed l.r.: rambutan and numbered eighty-five, watercolour and gum arabic and pencil on laid paper 31.7 x 20.5 cm.; 12 ½ x 8 1/8 inches

Signed l.l.: E. Lear, pencil with watercolour, gum arabic and pen and black ink 17.7 x 23 cm.; 7 x 9 inches These charming, quirky drawings are characteristic early works by Lear, dating from the late 1820s or early 1830s when he was establishing himself as an ornithological artist. They relate to a group of drawings which Lear gave to Mrs Godfrey Wentworth, who supported his employment by the Zoological Society in 1831, and whom he credited with launching him as an artist. They are imaginary, fanciful subjects drawn with not a little humour, resembling the stylised watercolours of birds painted on late eighteenth century porcelain. Robert McCracken Peck has made the interesting suggestion that Lear and his sister Ann may have been thinking of approaching ceramics companies with them (see Robert McCracken Peck, The Natural History of Edward Lear, 2016, pp. 27-9). Two surviving family albums from the late 1820s, containing a mixture of similar natural history subjects by Edward Lear and his sisters Ann and Sarah, are in the collection of the Houghton Library, Harvard University (MS Typ 55.4 and 55.27). Sir Edward Strachey was a man of letters and friend of Lear’s, who wrote an introduction to Nonsense Songs in 1895. He lived at Sutton Court, Chew Magna in Somerset and was a neighbour of Lear’s close friend Chichester Fortescue, the Liberal politician whom Lear first met in Rome in 1845.

Pencil on laid paper 15 x 17.5 cm.; 6 x 7 ¼ inches Provenance Sabin Galleries Ltd., “The Sublime and Beautiful’, 1973, no. 88 The artist was an architect and surveyor as well as an artist, the fifth and youngest son of the architect George Dance the Elder, from a family of architects, artists and dramatists. His brother Nathaniel Dance (Dance-Holland) was also a painter and later a politician. Both brothers were founder members of the Royal Academy in 1768. There has been confusion over the authorship of some of the caricatures with which both brothers are associated.

Stamped with studio stamp l.r. and inscribed: Venice, watercolour 15 x 23.5 cm.; 5 7/8 x 5 ½ inches, framed size 32 x 39 cm.; 12 1/2 x 15 1/4 inches From an album of watercolours by the artist. Johnson was born in Birmingham where he studied under Samuel Restell Lines. He was then a pupil of William James Müller in London from circa 1842/3-1845, accompanying him to Lycia at the time of Sir Charles Fellowes’ expedition in 1843. The artists travelled for around eight months, spending time in Xanthus, Pinara and Tlos before going to to Rhodes and Smyrna and presumably visited Venice at this time. Johnson, like Müller, continued to work on subjects from this trip after his return to England. 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.

Signed l.l.: W Muller/1839., oil on panel 43.5 x 27 cm.; 17 x 10 5/8 inches Provenance Thomas Agnew & Sons, London; Anonymous sale Sotheby’s, London, 10 November 1982, lot 49; Noortman & Brod, New York, 1983; Anonymous sale, Christie’s, New York, 10 February 1998 lot 160; Matthew Rutenberg, New York, until 2020 Exhibited Noortman & Brod, 18th and 19th Century Paintings, April – May 1983, New York, June - July 1983, London This spirited painting executed with great bravura was done shortly after Müller’s return from Egypt in 1839. Its pleasing intensity, enhanced by the artist’s choice of a wooden panel as the support (unusual in his oeuvre) exemplifies the artist’s work at its very best. I am grateful to the late Briony Llewellyn for her most interesting suggestion that this is a self-portrait of the artist in Eastern dress. She suggested that it resembled the self-portraits which J.F. Lewis did of himself after his return from Egypt. The artist has left his features deliberately vague, the focus of the work on the technique and bravura of the brushstrokes. The figure stands in the pose adopted by Mai in the famous portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds (National Portrait Gallery/Getty Museum). Müller was exhilarated by his arrival in the bustling metropolis of Cairo and was particularly intrigued by the slave market, which he described as ‘one of my most favourite haunts’ (W. J. Müller, ‘An Artist’s Tour of Egypt’, Art-Union 1, London, 1839, pp. 131-2). Müller is the best-known artist of the Bristol School. His German father settled in the city and was the first curator of the Bristol Institution, the forerunner of the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. His early exposure to art led to a short apprenticeship with James Baker Pyne and a friendship with the Reverend James Bulwer (1749-1879), a pupil of John Sell Cotman, whose collection of Norwich School drawings Müller would have known. In 1833 Müller was one of the founders of the Bristol Sketching Club and his travels began the following year with visits to Holland, Germany and Venice. His 1838 trip started in Athens before he continued to Cairo. In 1840 he visited France and in 1843 he went to Lycia at the same time as Sir Charles Fellows’ expedition, during which he produced some of his finest watercolours. He died at the age of 43 after his return from Turkey. Following Müller’s death, prices of his oil paintings rose dramatically in the salerooms. Articles on his work appeared regularly and in 1875 N. Neal Solly, the biographer of David Cox, wrote a long biography. In 1896 the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery held a retrospective of 192 of Müller’s paintings, watercolour and drawings. His reputation was kept alive in Bristol where the 150th anniversary of his birth in 1962 was celebrated with an exhibition at Bristol Art Gallery, while in 1984 Tate Gallery held a show of his French and Lycian watercolours. In 1991 a major retrospective was held at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, who hold the most comprehensive collection of his work, organised by Francis Greenacre, the renowed authority on Müller and the Bristol School.

Henry Pilleau (1813-1899) The Dead Sea Signed with monogram l.l., watercolour 21 x 38 cm.; 8 ¼ x 15 inches Provenance Presented to Queen Victoria in 1887 for her Golden Jubilee by the Royal Society of Water-Colour Painters Pilleau served with 16th Lancers. He is best known for his colourful watercolours and prints of Egypt. He visited Egypt in 1840s with Lieutenant -Colonel Sir George Everest (1790-1866), Surveyor-General of India, presumably on the men’s way to India. Pilleau’s ‘Sketches in Egypt’ comprising 12 lithographs was published in London in 1845 by Dickinson and dedicated to Everest. It comprises text and colourful plates of famous views and sites. Everest, a Welsh surveyor and geographer, after whom Mount Everest was named, served as the Surveyor General of India (1830–1843) and worked on the Great Trigonometric Survey of India. This watercolour left the Royal collection in the early twentieth century together with a substantial number of other works on paper, and there is no documentation for this with the Royal Collection. The other works whose details are recorded on the sheet of Windsor notepaper attached to the backboard were also dispersed at this time ( from the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art gift, Llyn Crafnant by D.W. Barker (the rendering of his name as ‘Banken’ suggests that someone was inaccurately copying from another source); Time-Honoured Lancaster by R. Aspinwall; and A Breezy Day by R. Short).

Vaulted Hall under the Terrace, Heidelberg, Germany Inscribed and dated l.l.: Vaulted Hall under the Terrace. Heidelberg/Sep 21st/1865, watercolour over pencil with bodycolour on blue paper 17.2 x 25.5 cm.; 6 ¾ x 10 inches Heidelberg Castle is one of the most important Renaissance buildings in Northern Europe. The residence of the Counts Palatine of the Rhine dates back to 1225 and was largely rebuilt in the sixteenth century. It was badly damaged by the French army in the course of the War of the Grand Alliance, or the Nine Year’s War (1688 - 1697), and was finally ruined by two devastating lightening strikes in 1764.