George Richmond, R.A. Cloud study

Signed and dated in gold paint l.l.: Geo Richmond.1834, watercolour over pencil heightened with white and gold and touches of gum arabic 35.3 x 25.1 cm.; 13 ¾ x 9 7/8 inches Provenance By descent in the family of the sitter until 2015; Their sale, Bonhams, London, 24 November 2015, lot 95; Private collection, U.K. Literature R. Lister, George Richmond A Critical Biography, 1981, p. 162, nos. 203 and 204 The sitter wears the uniform of the Madras Horse Artillery, and the Order of the Bath Companion’s breast badge, and is standing in an Indian landscape with his hand upon a cannon. Lieutenant Colonel Sir Charles Hopkinson was born on September 14th, 1783, in Grantham, Lincolnshire. He had a distinguished career in the service of the East India Company and commanded the Company's artillery during the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824-1826). He was made a Companion of the Most Honourable Military Order of The Bath and subsequently knighted for his services. He died in December 1864. The Madras Army was the army of the Presidency of Madras and run by the East India Company until 1858. It was finally merged into the Indian army in 1895. After his marriage to Julia Tatham in 1831 George Richmond turned to portrait painting. He quickly established a fashionable painting practise and became one of the most fashionable portrait painters of his time.

Watercolour over pencil 20.5 x 38 cm.; 8 1/8 x 15 inches Provenance Walter Coleridge Richmond (1852-1931), the son of the artist, by descent; With Radnorshire Fine Art Richmond continued to draw and paint landscapes throughout his successful career as a portraitist. These works remained private and stayed mainly in his family. This beautiful sketch has a directness which reflects his enjoyment of the opportunity for contemplation when drawing from nature.

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.

Pen and brown ink and wash over traces of pencil on laid paper 12 x 9.7 cm.; 4 ¾ x 3 3/4 inches Framed in a dark wood moulding 31 x 29 cm.; 12 1/4 x 11 1/2 inches Provenance: Dickinson

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

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

Inscribed (recto): T Von Holst, pencil and pen and brown ink, verso: pencil, on laid paper with a partial Strasburg Lily watermark, laid down on a brown sheet numbered 10 27.2 x 21.4 cm; 10 3⁄4 x 8 1⁄2 inches Provenance John Welch Etherington Rolls (1807-1870); By family descent to Lady Shelley Rolls, her sale at Sotheby’s, London,12 June 1959; P. & D. Colnaghi; Private collection U.K. until 2019 Von Holst’s drawing of the seated woman, recto, is after a figure in Raphael’s ‘Miraculous Draft of Fishes’; the drawing for the tapestry cartoon is in the Albertina, Vienna. A print was made after the drawing, which von Holst probably copied. The figure of the standing female on the recto is a characteristic Holst pose, derived from Vincenzo Danti’s bronze statue of Venus in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence (see Max Browne, The Romantic Art of Theodor von Holst 1810-44, 1994, p.15). The drawing on the verso illustrates a scene inspired by a Gothic novel such as The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe, published in 1794. One of the most popular novels of its day, its main character Emily St. Aubert, a virtuous and beautiful young woman, undertakes a series of dramatic adventures; she escapes from captivity at the hands of a cruel villain in a brooding castle to freedom. The brown card inlay on which the present drawing is contained is from the Rolls album, a large leather-bound album which forms the largest-known group of drawings by the artist. The family lived at The Hendre in Monmouthshire, where they also had at least five oils by von Holst. They were also involved with the theatre and opened their own in the grounds. The pencil inscription “T. Von Holst’ appears on almost all the drawings in the album and is effectively its collection mark.

English School circa 1830 The head of a brow cow Oil on paper laid down on panel 9 x 8.7 cm.; 3 ½ x 3 3/8 inches Framed size 21 x 21 cm.; 8 ¼ x 8 ¼ inches Provenance Private collection, U.K.

Oil on paper laid down on board, inscribed on reverse of board: George Mason ARA and stamped with a Christie’s stencil 21 x 21 cm.; 8 ¼ x 8 ¼ inches Provenance The artist’s studio sale, Christie’s, 15 February 1873, lot 91, where bought by George Dunlop Leslie, RA (1835-1921); his daughter Lydia Leslie, By descent to T. L. Twidell Exhibited Stoke-on-Trent Museum & Art Gallery, George Heming Mason, 1982, cat. no 20 (ill) (lent by T.W. Twidell). Exhibited George Heming Mason, City Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent, 1 May – 12 June 1982; Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 26 June – 31 July, The Fine Art Society, London 9 August – 4 September, cat. 20 (ill.) The sympathetic white horse is yoked in the Italian manner in this lively oil sketch and can be presumed to have been executed in Italy.