Hercules Brabazon Brabazon Study of the sea and the sky

Signed with initials l.l., watercolour over pencil with touches of bodycolour on grey paper17 x 26 cm.; 6 ¾ x 10 ¼ inchesExhibitedLeger Galleries, London, November 1973;Private collection U.K. until 2022The second son of Hercules Sharpe, the artist was educated at Harrow. After leaving Cambridge where he read Maths he decided to become an artist and studied in Rome for three years. On the death of his elder brother he inherited the Brabazon estates (and name) in Ireland. He spent his summers in England and his winters travelling in Europe and, from the 1860s, further afield. The artist visited India three times, in 1870, 1875 and 1876.In 1891 Sargent persuaded him to have an exhibition at the Goupil Gallery and, as a result, in his old age he was at the forefront of the modern movement.

Signed with initials l.r.: HBB, watercolour and bodycolour over pencil, inscribed verso: Siracuse and stamped with collector’s markProvenanceGilbert Davis (L. 757a.);Edward Seago, his estate sale at Christie’s, London 1 March 1977, lot 94;Where bought by B.M. Williams;Christie’s, London, 21 November 2007, lot 145, where acquired by the previous owner until 2025 Gilbert Davis (1899–1983) built up a large collection of watercolours in the middle of the twentieth century. He sold the bulk of his collection in 1959 to the Huntingdon Library and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California. Edward Seago RBA, RWS (1910-1974) was one of the most popular British artists of 20th century, who painted in oils and watercolours.

KT397Watercolour17.6 x 25.8 cm.; 6 7/8 x 10¼ inchesFramed size 34.5 x 44.5 cm.; 13 5/8 x 17 ½ inchesProvenanceSotheby’s, London, 18 November 1971, lot 64;Charles J. Branchini until 2020The second son of Hercules Sharpe, the artist was educated at Harrow. After leaving Cambridge where he read Maths he decided to become an artist and studied in Rome for three years. On the death of his elder brother he inherited the Brabazon estates (and name) in Ireland. He spent his summers in England and his winters travelling in Europe and, from the 1860s, further afield. In 1891 Sargent persuaded him to have an exhibition at the Goupil Gallery and, as a result, in his old age he was at the forefront of the modern movement.Brabazon was most influenced by Turner, Cox, Müller and de Wint and his work owes much to Turner's late work. This watercolour is reminiscent of the style of Sargent.

Watercolour17.5 by 25.5 cmTwo of the dogs are terrier types (Irish terrier on the left, and black and tan on the right) and the white dog with brown spots is a pointer type.Provenance: Augusta Raymond-Barker, Fairford Park, Gloucestershire; thence by family descent until 2016The artist was the youngest son of portrait painter Nathan Theodore Fielding. From 1827 to 1830 he lived in Paris, where he ran the family engraving business, at which William Callow worked. He was closely associated with the Anglo-French circle of artists centred around Bonington and Delacroix.He collaborated with his brothers Thales and Theodore in England before returning to France where he built up an extensive teaching practice, with pupils including members of the family of King Louis- Philippe. He published a number of teaching manuals and lived in France until his death.

Head and shoulders, pen and brown ink and wash22.9 x 17.3 cm; 9 x 10 3/4 inchesProvenance: Private collection, UK, bought at a charity auction at the Finchingfield GuildhallLandseer’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.

Pen and brown ink and watercolour, inscribed with pencil numbers l.r.4 x 11.6 cm.; 1 5/8 x 4 5/8 inchesLear’s diary of 5th May 1864 records that he was sketching at the Lake of Kourna, ‘very fine and Cumberlandish- in a nook at the foot of very high hills…11.15 Lunch is done: the wrens and titmice still sing-still. Zeriff [Turkish armed servant] hubblebubbles. The four Cretan creturs [sic] sleep, and the sun comes over the oak tree I lie beneath so I must move. Very delightful hours…’

Two, bodycolour, one on paper watermarked: SMITH & ALLNUTT 1815Each 20.5 x 33.5 cmProvenance: Mrs BaldockThe artists of the Patna School specialised in the depiction of everyday activities for their British patrons. Traditionally described as the work of the Company School (reflecting the patronage of the East India Company employees) this unique genre evolved as the painting styles of Western and Mughal traditions merged.

Signed l.l.: John, pencil and black chalk45.5 x 30.5 cm.; 17 7/8 x 12 inchesProvenanceLady Hornby (1934-2021)ExhibitedAugustus John, Olympia, 23-28 February 1999, no. 61 (no catalogue)This freely drawn, captivating drawing dates from c. 1904-1906. It epitomises the qualities of John’s fluent draughtsmanship and his ability to capture the essence of a sitter with apparent ease. Its immediacy, sureness and simplicity place it amongst his finest female portraits.Sheran Cazalet was the daughter of Peter Cazalet, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother’s, racing trainer. Her grandparents, William and Maud Cazalet, were friends of Augustus John. She married Sir Simon Hornby in 1968. He was the last family member to serve as chairman of WH Smith and served as chairman of the Design Council; he died in 2010. The couple lived at The Ham, Oxfordshire, where they assembled a collection of twentieth century works on paper, created a beautiful garden and entertained in style. Many of the contents of The Ham were sold at Christie’s, London, in 2012.

Henry Lamb (Australian/British 1883 – 1960)Inscribed l.r.: Edwin John, pencilProvenanceThe Estate of the artist;Davis & Langdale Company, New York (DLA 3328);Where purchased by Sarah John (1946 - 2024);Bequeathed to the present ownerThis drawing dates from c. 1913-1915. Edwin John (1905-1978) was the fourth son of Augustus John and Ida and was born in Paris. After a brief career as a middleweight boxer he became a watercolourist. He inherited the estate of his aunt Gwen and did much to secure her posthumous reputation.Henry Lamb was born in Adelaide, Australia in 1883. He studied medicine in Manchester before abandoning it in1905 to train as an artist. At twenty-two he left for London to study under Augustus John and William Orpen at their Chelsea Art School at 72 Flood Street. They held weekly classes in life drawing and painting, still life, figure composition, landscape and decorative painting.He was a talented student and he and John formed a strong friendship. For a while Lamb imitated John’s bohemian manner of dress, wore gold earrings and grew his hair longer. He also began to draw like John. Lamb was a frequent visitor to the John household into 1930s and became close to Dorelia (with whom he had an affair) and to the children who he encouraged to draw.This drawing also has echoes of the work of Stanley Spencer. Spencer (like John) had studied at the Slade from 1908-1912 under Henry Tonks. Lamb and Spencer met in 1913 and were close friends for a while. Another drawing of Edwin from this period was with Piano Nobile in 2024 (Augustus John and the First Crisis of Brilliance, 26 April –13 July 2024, no. 12).

KT311 bSigned and inscribed on original mount: La Porte./Keswick Lake-/Pocklington Island./Crosthwaite Church./Skiddaw, watercolour over pencil22.7 x 37.7 cm; 9 x 14 7/8 inchesProvenance: Christie’s, London, 17 November 1970, lot 10;The Pemberton collection bought from the above sale, until 2019Laporte was a drawing master who exhibited work at the Royal Academy and British Institution from 1779. Dr Thomas Monro was one of his pupils. He published several manuals on landscape watercolour painting, the most famous of which 'The Progress of a Water-Coloured Drawing', c. 1802, went into several editions. It showed fourteen stages in the outline and colouring of a watercolour. He visited the Lakes in the 1790s and there are a number of drawings by him in the collection of The Wordsworth Trust, of which several are of Derwentwater. His work can also be found in the collections of the Tate, the British Museum and the Whitworth Art Gallery.