David Cox, RWS Bruges – a group of women at the market

Signed and dated l.l.: David Cox. 1836, watercolour over pencil with scratching out18 x 26 cmIn the summer of 1836 Cox spent a few weeks at Rowsley, painting at Haddon Hall. He made several watercolours of elegant figures in seventeenth century costume strolling on the terrace there to which the present work relates. Although the present work does not appear to be of Haddon, it fits in with this period of his oeuvre.

Signed l.l.: David Cox., watercolour over traces of pencil with touches of pen and black ink on buff paper29.6 x 39 cm; 11 ¾ x 15 ⅜ inchesProvenance: Agnew’s, London, 126th annual exhibition, March 1999, no. 63; The Flannery collection, UK, and by descent until 2018.This very freely drawn watercolour represents a transitional stage in the development of the important theme of ‘Peace and War’, one of David Cox’s major subjects. Two local men, one seated, one standing, watch a small troop of soldiers on the march in an extensive sweeping landscape under a huge sky, with Lancaster Castle in the middle distance and the waters of Morecambe Bay beyond. Unusually for Cox there is not much pencil underdrawing.Cox’s preoccupation with military activity during the very unsettled years of the 1830s and 1840s manifests itself after his 1838 trip with his wife to Seabrook, near Hythe in Kent, for six weeks. The artist made sketching trips along the coast of Kent, including one to Lympne, five miles from Hythe, resulting in Peace and War: Lympne Castle ( c. 1838, Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery).The present work, which is similar in style and feel to the Lympne watercolour, presumably dates from the same time, but shows the composition reversed and the distant focus of Lancaster Castle as in Lancaster: Peace and War, 1842 (Art Institute of Chicago). Most of Cox’s numerous ‘Peace and War’ subjects are set at Lancaster rather than Lympne and have more developed references to ‘War’ than the small troop of riders seen here on the top of the hill on the left.The theme is repeatedly treated by Cox at this period, resulting in his 1838 exhibits at the Society of Painters in Water-colours in London, Rocky Scene – Infantry on the March and Stirling Castle – Cavalry on the March and the 1839 Cavalry on the March. In 1848 the first work to be entitled Peace and War (Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight, National Museums Liverpool) was exhibited at the Society of Painters in Water-colours.

KT587Signed and dated l.l.: D. Cox/1824, watercolour over pencil22.6 x 28.9 cm.; 8 ¾ x 11 3/8 inchesProvenanceColnaghi (exhibited as ‘In the Wye Valley’);Viscount Eccles (1905-1994);Abbott and Holder; from where acquired byPeter Roberts until 2023ExhibitedProbably the Society of Painters in Water-Colours, 1824, no. 289, Hay Field – View near HerefordThis charming watercolour is a fine example of the fluent small-scale drawings with which Cox had commercial success in the mid to late 1820s.He wrote to William Radclyffe that he intended to devote more time to saleable smaller works, as his larger pictures were not finding buyers (Scott Wilcox points out that his discovery of the elegant small watercolours by Bonington at this date would have provided a compelling model (See Scott Wilcox, ed., Sun, Wind, and Rain: The Art of David Cox, exhibition catalogue, Yale Centre for British Art, p. 36).The castellated church in in middle distance may well be modelled on St Peter’s, Lugwardine. The building to the right of the church bears a passing resemblance to Sufton Court (which is not so close to the church). Cox was an artist, not a topographer, and frequently modified landscapes and landmarks to suit his artistic vision.Viscount (David) Eccles (1905-1994) had a fine collection of 18th and 19th century British drawings. He was a politician who organised the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. After being sacked by Harold Macmillan in July 1962 he went back into business, first as a director of Courtaulds and later as chairman of West Cumberland Silk Mills.Peter Roberts was a school master and collector of English watercolours who taught English at Oundle School until his retirement in 2007.

Watercolour over pencil with scratching out18.2 x 22.8 cm.; 7 ¼ x 9 1/8 inchesProvenanceQuentin and Molly Bridge until 2020ExhibitedMartyn Gregory, British Watercolours & Drawings, 2020, no. 8This charming early drawing by Cox dates to circa 1815. A woman and a child can be seen collecting water in a bucket from a stream near a wooden bridge by a cottage. The child appears to be wearing a black Welsh hat.

Daniel Maclise , R.A. (1806-1870)A seated girl reading in a doorwayPencil13.5 x 8 cm.; 5 ¼ x 3 1/8 inchesProvenanceCovent 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.

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

One hundred and forty-four drawings on sixty-eight pages, laid into an album bound in vellum, the fly leaf with a large label inscribed: Miss Stones/First Efforts/plates.71The drawings are of various sizes, on laid paper, each page 31.5 x 19.7 cm.; 12 1⁄4 x 7 3⁄4 inchesProvenancePrivate collection, U.K.;Private sale by Sotheby’s Australia, January 25 2001; Patrick Dockar-Drysdale (1929-2020)ExhibitedTate Britain, 'Now you See Us- Women Artists in Britain 1520-1920', May - October 2024, ill. p.42, p. 205Sarah Stone was the daughter of James Stone, a fan painter and is thought to have assisted her father. The family lived in London.The dated drawings in this album suggest that Stone executed many of them when she was ten or eleven years old and identify her as something of a child prodigy. This album contains many copies from drawing books which were a popular means of allowing an artist to develop their technique by copying. The number of drawings and the repetition of certain subjects reflect a systematic approach and a determination to improve and there are drawings after Holbein, Ribera and Boucher, the minor details may be after Le Brun.One of the drawings is inscribed ‘The New Drawing Book‘ which could be a reference to Francis Vivares, A New Drawing Book, in the Manner of Chalk fit for Youth to Draw after. 6 sepia soft ground etchings, by W. Hebert after Vanloo and Boucher, 4to. Frans. Vivares. Sept. 1759. The plates in this were in the manner of red chalk.The range of subjects in the present album suggests Stone was using one of the compilation drawing books, such as Carrington Bowles, The School of Art; or, most compleat Drawing-Book extant: consisting of an extensive series of well chosen examples, selected from the designs of those eminent masters, Watteau, Boucher, Bouchardson, Le Brun, Eisen, &c. engraved on sixty copper plates, and performed in a method which expresses the manner of handling the chalk, 1765 and later editions.

Pen and grey ink and grey wash over pencil24.5 x 17.1 cm.; 10 x 6 ¾ inchesProvenanceWith 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 143ExhibitedSpink, London, ‘Annual Exhibition of Watercolours and Drawings, 28 May – 21 June 1996, no. 4This 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 headhttps://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/16046It 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.

Signed l.r.: W. HUNT, pencil, tiny sketches of figures and a list verso, on wove paper12 x 8.4 cm.; 7 ¼ x 4 ¾ inchesProvenance: Cyril and Shirley Fry until 2021Literature: J. Witt, 'William Henry Hunt (1790-1864)', 1982, no. 370Exhibited: 'Hunt Exhibition Fry Collection', 1967, no. 17 (1)This drawing dates from circa 1820. Hunt drew the same girl on another occasion in a similar pose (Rossetti Collection, J. Witt, ibid. no. 492).

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.