John Frederick Lewis, R.A. Arran

Extensively inscribed and dated in pencil and in pen and brown ink: Quarries of Assouan AM 11.30- 1 PM January 27.1867 all one color [sic] pinky drab oker [sic], numbered (242) and with further colour notes, pen and brown ink and watercolour over pencil heightened with white 29 x 53 cm.; 11 3/8 x 20 ¾ inches Provenance Mrs R.K. Judges; The Fine Art Society, January 1993, where bought by Martin Davies (1924-2023) This beautifully drawn watercolour dates from Lear’s second trip up the Nile and his third visit to Egypt in the winter of 1866-1867, when he travelled with his Canadian cousin, Archie Jones. The men met in Luxor and visited Esneh, Edfu and Denderah, and had reached Philae by the end of January. Lear found his cousin irritating due to his habit of whistling and his lack of enthusiasm for the temples. It was nevertheless a productive trip for the artist, who made many drawings. He was particularly interested in the country between the First and Second Cataracts which was new to him. Another drawing from this trip dating from 30 January of the first Cataract is numbered 267 (formerly in the collection of Dayton International), indicating that he produced twenty-five drawings in 3 days. He wrote to Lady Waldegrave on 9th March 1867 that the Nubian desert was, ‘a sad, stern, uncompromising landscape, dark ashy purple lines of hills, piles of granite rocks, fringes of palm, and ever and anon astonishing ruins of oldest temples’ (Vivien Noakes, Edward Lear: Selected Letters, London, 1988, pp. 208-209). This detailed view accurately depicts the ancient granite quarries at Aswan mined by the ancient Egyptians. A line of unfinished carved granite can be seen lying in the sand in the background. When the construction of the Aswan Dam began in 1960, it became apparent that the ancient temples and surrounding area would be submerged and destroyed by the rising waters of the newly created Lake Nasser. UNESCO led an international fund-raising campaign to relocate them to higher ground by 1968. Martin Davies (1924-2023) was the President of the Egypt Society of Bristol, who visited and photographed the second cataract twice in 1960s before the Aswan Dam was moved. He amassed an interesting collection of views of Egypt.

Pencil 9 x 15 cm.; 3 ½ x 6 inches Provenance The artist's studio sale, Christie's, 8 - 15 May 1874, bt. by Thomas Agnew & Sons Ltd. (23366); J.M.M., a Christmas present from C. 1962

John Stanton Ward, CBE, R.A. (1917 – 2006) Still life with a vase of wildflowers Signed in pencil l.r.: John Ward, watercolour over pencil 18.7 x 56 cm.; 7 ¼ x 22 inches Provenance Private collection, U.K., until 2026

Inscribed with artist’s shorthand and dated 35 c.r., pencil 7.2 x 15.1 cm.; 2 ¾ x 5 7/8 inches Provenance The Manning Galleries Ltd., January 1972; Private collection until 2023

Pen and brown and grey ink and watercolour over traces of pencil, bears inscription and date 22 x 36 cm.’ 8 ½ x 14 1/8 inches Provenance Maurice Dear, Southampton; Private collection, U.K., until 2025 Rowlandson drew boating scenes such as this one on many occasions, this work probably dates from c. 1810-1820. The river is teeming with a variety of craft and passengers and the nearby pub doing a roaring trade.

Oil on panel 22 x 27 cm.; 8 ¾ x 10 5/8 inches Provenance The artist’s widow, Lady Kelly; Michael Parkin Fine Art Ltd; From whom purchased by J.G. Cluff, private collection U.K. until 2022 Born in London of Irish descent, Kelly was educated at Cambridge University, later living and studying art in Paris where he met Degas, Monet, Renoir and Sickert. Whistler was also an early influence as were Cézanne and Gaugin. Kelly was an enthusiastic traveller, visiting many countries from Egypt to China. His sketches of his travels are pleasingly spontaneous and tend to be painted more freely than his finished portraits. He became a successful society portraitist whose sitters included Somerset Maugham, whom he painted several times, and he undertook numerous state portraits. Kelly is represented in many public collections, including the Tate, which holds seven works. He had retrospective exhibitions at the Leicester Galleries in 1950 and in 1957 at the RA. He was elected RA in 1930, was the Academy's Keeper from 1943-45 and President, defeating Augustus John in the election, from 1949-54. Kelly held a number of official positions, such as membership of the Royal Fine Arts Commission, 1938-43, and was knighted in 1945. Between 1909 and 1970 Kelly exhibited over 300 works at the RA. During his lifetime his work became well known through popular prints.

KT514 Signed and dated on mount l.l.: E. Dayes 1791, pen and grey ink and watercolour with touches of bodycolour over traces of pencil on wove paper, on original laid paper mount 21 x 13.9 cm.; 8 ¼ x 5 ½ inches Provenance Sotheby’s, 25 January 1989, lot 54, where bought by James Hall, his collection no. 23, until 2022 The Abbey was founded for the Cistercians between 1175 and 1178 by Hervey de Montemarisco, Marshall of Henry II, who became its first abbot. At the Reformation Henry VIII granted the Abbey to Sir Osborne Itchingham. The church is one of the longest Cistercian churches in Ireland.

Chale Bay- looking out to sea from St Catherine’s Down and Oratory, Isle of Wight Watercolour over traces of pencil. 32.3 x 54.1 cm.; 12 ¾ x 21 ¼ inches Provenance Spink, London, sold 11 October 1956; Private collection U.K., until 2020; With Karen Taylor Fine Art; Private collection, U.K. until 2024 Turner of Oxford was in Sussex in 1846 from when this beautiful drawing may well date, as he made a large watercolour from near Portsmouth with the Isle of Wight in the distance in that year. He has chosen a calm day and the stillness of the shepherds amplifies the awe with which they are observing the beauty of nature. The location has an interesting history. In 1313, a ship, the St Mary of Bayonne, was blown off-course and ran aground on the treacherous Atherfield Ledge in Chale Bay. Its cargo of white wine was sold illegally by the sailors and many barrels found their way into the cellars of Walter de Godeton, Lord of the Manor of Chale. The ship came from Gascony, then part of King Edward II’s kingdom. He was not amused, and Walter de Godeton was fined by an ecclesiastical court. The Pope heard of the incident and, to avoid excommunication, de Godeton was ordered to build an oratory and beacon on Chale Down as penance.

Samuel Palmer, RWS (1805-1881) La Vocotella near Corpo di Cava, Italy Pencil and watercolour heightened with bodycolour with scratching out 26.7 x 37.8 cm.; 10 ½ x 14 7/8 inches Provenance With Agnew’s, London 2002, no. 53 Anonymous sale Sotheby’s, London, 23 November 2006, lot 145; W/S Fine Art, ‘Andrew Wyld: Connoisseur Dealer’, Christie’s, London, 10 July 2012, lot 147; Timothy Clowes, his sale at Sotheby’s, London, 23 September 2021, lot 148; Where bought by a private collector until 2026 Samuel and Hannah Palmer stayed at a small inn at Corpo di Cava on their Italian honeymoon in the summer of 1838. The inn overlooked a Benedictine monastery and a ravine. During this very happy period of his life, Palmer produced some of his finest watercolours, which combined the mysticism of his Shoreham work with more Italianate composition and structure. He told his friend George Richmond that it was here that he felt he was ‘no longer a mere maker of sketches, but an artist’ (E. Malins Samuel Palmer’s Italian Honeymoon, 1968, p. 73). This watercolour is constructed on classical lines with the receding serpentine path with a figure and is infused with the golden glow of Italian sunlight. A similar watercolour of the same place from a different viewpoint is in the collection of the Graves Art Gallery Sheffield (see R. Lister Catalogue Raisonné of the works of Samuel Palmer, 1988, no. 311, pp. 126-7, ill.). In a letter to her parents, written during August 1838, Hannah Palmer mentioned two views of Corpo di Cava by her husband. Presumably one is the Graves Art Gallery drawing and the present work may be the second which Raymond Lister records as untraced (R. Lister, Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of Samuel Palmer, Cambridge 1988, see no. 310).

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.