Constance Frederica Gordon-Cumming Ruins of the Temple at the furthest point at Dondra Head

Signed, inscribed and dated l.r.: Cave on the Island/of Elephanta/Dec 9th. 69 and further signed by another, watercolour over pencil. The artist visited the famous Hindu temple carved into the rockface on the island of Elephanta. Constructed between the fifth and sixth century, the temple is part of the ‘City of Caves’ devoted to the cult of Shiva. For further work by this artist please see the catalogue link and enquire about availability.

Head and shoulders, pen and brown ink and wash 22.9 x 17.3 cm; 9 x 10 3/4 inches Provenance: Private collection, UK, bought at a charity auction at the Finchingfield Guildhall Landseer’s caricatures are a less well-known aspect of his art. They were made for private circulation and show Landseer’s effortless ability to capture the physical oddities of his subjects in an acute yet affectionate fashion. This drawing was once thought to depict Paganini but the subject is currently unidentified.

Signed with initials l.l.: TC, oil on paper laid down on canvas 26.5 x 36 cm.; 10 3/8 x 14 1/8 inches The artist studied in Birmingham under Joseph V. Barber (1788-1838) and moved to London in 1828. He was one of the leading practitioners of the Birmingham School of Artists and a founder member of the Etching Club. Creswick exhibited over 250 paintings in London during his lifetime at the Royal Academy and Suffolk Street Galleries, and also worked as an illustrator. He sought out subjects from the rivers and streams all over the British Isles. The present work has a pleasing spontaneity and sense of place which reflects Creswick’s habit of painting outside from nature. He was particularly drawn to streams which he painted many times. He revels in depicting the colours, shapes and textures of the boulders in the foreground of this work and excels himself conveying the softness of the moss on the first rock. John Ruskin praised Creswick’s handling of foliage and his observations from nature in the first volume of Modern Painters (1843). Oils on paper by him are comparatively rare. Creswick’s work is represented in many British institutional collections and the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven.

Watercolour on laid paper, with exhibition label attached to backboard 15 x 32.5 cm.; 6 x 12 3⁄4 inches Provenance Miss Bostock, companion to Miss H.H. Tatlock, the artist’s granddaughter; Christie’s, 12 September 1941, lot 29; Where purchased by Thomas Agnew & Son Ltd., London; Sold to a private collector 18 May 1942; Private collection, Wiltshire until 2023 Exhibited Usher Art Gallery Lincoln, Peter De Wint Exhibition, 1937, no. 146 Horsemen can be seen in the foreground of this freely drawn, spare landscape, which exemplifies Peter de Wint’s brilliance and delicacy in the laying of washes.

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.

Signed and dated u.r.: Mancinelli/Geny (?). 1882, pencil 16.8 x 14.3 cm; 6.6 x 5.6 inches Provenance: David M. Daniels and Stevan Beck Baloga, their sale at Sotheby’s 29 October 2002, lot 116 Exhibited: Shepherd Gallery, R.J.M. Olsen, ‘Italian 19th Century Drawings and Watercolours, An Album: Camuccini & Minardi to Mancini & Balla,’, Spring 1976, no. 155, ill. p. 45; The American Federation of Arts, ‘Italian Drawings 1780-1890’, March 1980-January 1981, no 84 This is an exceptionally fine drawing by this Italian portrait painter who lived for most of his life in Naples where he was honorary Professor of the Institute of Fine Arts. His subjects included Umberto I and Margherita di Savoia (1884) and other Italian aristocrats, as well as Orientalist and historical work.

Pen and grey ink and grey wash over pencil 24.5 x 17.1 cm.; 10 x 6 ¾ inches Provenance With the Squire Gallery; J. Thursby-Pelham; Mrs Guy Argles and by descent until 1995, anon. sale Christie’s, London, 7 November 1995, lot 71; Spink, London; Christie’s, London, 21 November 2002, lot 8, where bought by the previous owner; Dreweatt’s, Château de Lasfonds sale, 16 November 2022, lot 143 Exhibited Spink, London, ‘Annual Exhibition of Watercolours and Drawings, 28 May – 21 June 1996, no. 4 This imposing drawing shows Satan holding his shield aloft to defend himself against Heaven. Romney made many illustrations to Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ around 1794. This drawing appears to show a moment in Book 1 when Satan and the other rebels are ‘Hurled headlong, flaming from the ethereal sky’. Elsewhere in the poem Milton compares Satan’s shield to a moon seen through Galileo’s telescope. Another similar drawing in the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum also shows Satan holding his shield above his head https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/16046 It is possible that the French Revolution, raging at this time, was close to Romney’s mind when he worked on these drawings for 'Paradise Lost', giving them some contemporary political significance.

Inscribed l.r.: Bruges, watercolour 7.6 x 11.4 cm; 3 x 4½ inches Provenance Spink & Son Ltd, London, K3/1890b, part of a group purchased from Appleby Brothers, 2 August 1960. This spontaneous, on-the-spot sketch was presumably done when Cox visited Bruges in 1826. His first trip to the Continent was organised by his brother-in-law Mr Gardener, an agent for the sale of government ordnance maps who had premises at 163 Regent Street, London. Gardener persuaded Cox and his son David Cox Jr to accompany him on a business trip to Brussels. The party travelled from Dover to Calais and then, travelling by diligence, on to Dunkerque, Bruges and Brussels. Cox evidently liked the caps worn by the market women in Belgium as he sketched them again in Brussels.1 1. See N. Neil Solly, Memoir of the Life of David Cox, 1873, reprinted 1973, p. 49.

Signed l.r.: W. HUNT, watercolour over pencil with scratching out 34 x 24.5 cm.; 13 3/8 x 9 5/8 inches Provenance J.P. Heseltine (1843-1929); Christopher W. Witt, Buckinghamshire; The Bourne Gallery, Surrey; David Pike (1936-2024) Literature J.P. Heseltine, John Varley and his Pupils, W. Mulready, J. Linnell and W. Hunt. Original Drawings in the Collection of J.P.H. 1918, ill. p. 13; John Witt, William Henry Hunt (1790-1864) Life and Works, with a catalogue, no. 539, ill. pl. 66 This shows Sarah Hunt, the artist’s wife, aged about twenty-one reading a letter. The couple were married in 1830 and Hunt used his wife as a model in 1830s, when this work was drawn. It may be compared with a similar example in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum entitled ‘Love Missive' (J. Witt, no. 529). The same chest and chair can be seen in both works. John Postle Heseltine (1843-1929) was a stockbroker and senior partner in the family firm, Heseltine, Powell & Co. He was a draughtsman and etcher, a collector oil paintings, drawings and watercolours of the English and Continental schools and a Trustee of the National Gallery who advised on purchases.

Signed with initials on border l.r.: F .Y (?) M, and inscribed l.c.: Female Hottentot watercolour on wove paper, with a laid paper border Drawing size 20.6 x 15.3 cm.; 8 ½ x 6 inches, with border 26 x 20 cm.; 10 ¼ x 7 7/8 inches This drawing came from a now disbound English album which contained works on paper from the late 18th and early 19th centuries.