Thérèse Lessore In a Belgian Train

Watercolour over traces of pencil on Creswick paper31 x 48.3 cm.; 12 ¼ x 19 inchesProvenanceChristie’s, London, the Artist’s sale, 27 May 1850, lot 378;Christie's London, April 25, 1995, 116;Bill Thomson, Albany Gallery until 2021De Wint first visited Shropshire in 1829-1830 and exhibited a number of Shropshire views throughout his career. He had two major patrons there, Lord Clive at Oakley Park near Ludlow, not far from the Clee Hills, and Edward Cheney of Badger Hall.

This group of nineteen distinctive depictions of fruit and vegetables from South-East Asia are inscribed with titles in Indian English (possibly in Romanised Hindi) and drawn on European laid paper which is variously watermarked. There are three different numbering systems on the sheets. Many of the fruit and vegetables, such as the durian, are more commonly found in South-East Asia rather than on the Indian subcontinent, suggesting that it is possible that the drawings may have been made for a European patron in South-East Asia. Stylistically the drawings have many of the characteristics of the ‘Straits School’, a hybrid Indo-Chinese style.The accumulation of natural history drawings by officials of the British East India Company gave rise to the term ‘Company School’, now out of favour, which has been used to describe the work of Indian or Chinese artists for British patrons. The distinctive style is a result of a fusion of two artistic traditions, the European with its desire for realism and the Asian taste for a more stylised approach. The work of Chinese artists is rarer than that of Indian artists and tends to be a little later in date.British patrons commissioned local artists to draw the flora and fauna of India and other areas of South-East Asia. Such work is typically annotated with botanical notes in native script, romanised versions of native descriptions, Latin and with reference to the Linnaean system of classification, created by Carl Linnaeus (1707-78).The eighteenth and early nineteenth century saw an enormous rise of interest in Europe in the study of natural history by both scientists and amateurs. A knowledge of the subject was considered to be an important part of a liberal education and many people studied ‘natural philosophy’ and the various branches of natural history. Accurate drawings were vital tools in classification as well as a reminder of the excited reaction to new discoveries being made all over the known world.The collecting of specimens was the basis of most natural history drawings, plants were pressed and dried and the drawings recorded the specimen in its living shape and colours.This group of fruit and vegetables are found in various parts of South-East Asia. Some are common others are less well known.The collection is presented mounted in a hand-made solander box.Brinjala (Aubergine)Inscribed l.r.: Brinjala and numbered ninety-five, N106 and 96, watercolour, bodycolour and gum arabic on wove paper31.7 x 20.5 cm.; 12 ½ x 8 1/8 inchesAubergine is known as brinjal in South-East Asia.MangosteenInscribed l.r.: mongostan, numbered ninety-seven. N 97 and 101, watercolour and gum arabic on laid paper watermarked IFD31.7 x 20.5 cm.; 12 ½ x 8 1/8 inchesMangosteens grow in South East Asia, particularly in Indonesia. It is a juicy, slightly acidic fruit and it is also used in traditional medicine.Ratahouli (pepper)Inscribed l.c.: Ratahouli, numbered ninety-five, N107 and 1010, watercolour and gum arabic on laid paper watermarked HIS/GD33 x 23 cm.; 13 x 9 inchesCashewInscribed Rajab, numbered ninety-eight, N109 and 1012, watercolour and gum arabic on laid paper33 x 23 cm.; 13 x 9 inchesThe cashew tree is a tropical evergreen tree that produces the cashew seed and the cashew accessory fruit. The nut can be seen growing from the bottom of the fruits in the drawing, both green and then brown once it has ripened.Jambu Air (Szygium Aqueum)Inscribed l.c.: jambol, numbered A Hundred, N111 and 1019, watercolour and gum arabic on laid paper watermarked HIS33 x 23 cm.; 13 x 9 inchesThis is a special of the brush cherry tree; its common names include watery rose apple and bell fruit.ChilliInscribed l.r.: fjoli, numbered ninety-one, N100 and 105, watercolour and gum arabic on laid paper watermarked with a crest33 x 23 cm.; 13 x 9 inchesPomegranateInscribed l.r. ramangh, numbered A hundred and three, N114 and 1019, watercolour and gum arabic on laid paper watermarked HIS33 x 23 cm.; 13 x 9 inchesPapayaWatercolour and gum arabic inscribed l.r. papaya, numbere ninety-nine, N100 and 1013, on laid paper watermarked with a crest32.5 x 23 cm.; 12 ½ x 9 inchesDurianInscribed l.r.: doorian, numbered eighty-five, N94 and 96, watercolour and gum arabic on laid paper32.7 x 23 cm.; 12 ¾ x 9 inchesThe durian, with its spiny outer shell and moist, pungent flesh can weigh up to seven pounds. These large fruits grow on trees, have a short period of ripeness and their cultivation is difficult.The durian is famously not allowed on public transport in Singapore on account of its unpleasant smell.Lobed tropical tomatoInscribed l.r.: samati, numbered ninety, N100 and 109, watercolour with touches of gum arabic on laid paper32 x 21 cm.; 12 ½ x 8 ¼ inchesBerlimbingInscribed l.r.: blinbingh, numbered A hundred and two, N113 and No 16, on laid paper watermarked HIS33 x 23 cm.; 12 ¾ x 9 inchesBerlimbing, also known as bling bling or berling berling, is a sour fruit used in curries.Buah Chiku (Sapodilla, Chikoo, Sapota or Naseberry)Inscribed l.r.: boa sawa, numbered ninety-three, N104 and 104, watercolour and gum arabic with touches of bodycolour on laid paper partially watermarked with the Strasburg Lily33 x 23 cm.; 13 x 9 inchesThis appears to be Buah Sawo or Chiku, but the identification of this plant is open to question.Ban Branjahr (?)Inscribed l.r.: Ban Branjarh (?), numbered eight eight, N90 and 102, watercolour, bodycolour and gum arabic on laid paper, watermarked31.7 x 20.5 cm.; 12 ½ x 8 1/8 inchesThis plant has not been identified.Lotus Inscribed l.c.: Fratil, numbered ninety-seven, N108 and 1011, watercolour and gum arabic, watermarked with a crest33 x 23 cm.; 13 x 9 inches This drawing shows the lotus head with seeds after it has flowered. It is the seed of plants in the genus Nelumbo and the seeds are used in Asian cooking and traditional medicine.Melon (probably watermelon)Inscribed l.r.: patuka, numbered ninety-two N103 and 106, watercolour and gum arabic on laid paper33 x 23 cm.; 13 x 9 inchesMangoInscribed l.r.: Manga, numbered A Hundred and one, N112 and 1015, watercolour and gum arabic31.7 x 20.5 cm.; 12 ½ x 8 1/8 inchesLonganInscribed l.r.: froita lanja, numbered eight nine, N99 and 103, watercolour and gum arabic on laid paper watermarked with a crest32.2 x 21 cm.; 12 ½ x 8 ¼ inchesRambutanInscribed l.r.: frouita kafri, numbered eighty-six, N96 and 100, watercolour and gum arabic 32 x 21 cm.; 12 ½ x 8 ¼ inchesBuah Gowok (Syzgium polycephalum)Inscribed l.r.: rambutan and numbered eighty-five, watercolour and gum arabic and pencil on laid paper31.7 x 20.5 cm.; 12 ½ x 8 1/8 inches

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).

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.

Pencil9 x 15 cm.; 3 ½ x 6 inchesProvenanceThe 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

Anna Tonelli (née Nistri) (c. 1763-1846)Portrait of Frances Anderson (née Gosling)(1768-1850),half-length, wearing a white dress and blue headdress, signed on backboard: Anna Tonelli/fe..in Londra/1798, inscribed on backing on reverse: glass taken out and restored 1848 (?). Frances Anderson née Gosling/born 1768 died 1850 at Dorset Gardens/BrightonPastel, framed as an oval in the original frame25.5 x 21 cm.; 10 x 8 ¼ inchesProvenanceBy family descent to Pamela Bruce Clarke(1915-1989);By family descent at The Grange, Wendover,Buckinghamshire, until October 2024LiteratureN. Jeffares, Dictionary of Pastellists before 1800, online edition, no. J.722.167Portrait of Robert Anderson (1764-1837)half-length, wearing a black coat and with powdered hair, signed on backboard: Anna Tonelli/fece in Londra/1798, inscribed on label attached to backboard: Robert Anderson M.D. Born 1704 died 1837/at Dorset Gardens, Brighton, Restored 1893. W.B.C./Ancestor of Pamela Bruce ClarkePastel, framed as an oval, in the original frame25.5 x 21 cm.; 10 x 8 ¼ inchesFrame size 32 x 28 cm.; 12 ½ x 11 inchesRobert Anderson was a physician in Brighton who married Frances Gosling in 1788. The couple lived in Dorset Gardens, Brighton.Anna Tonelli, née Nistri, was probably trained in Florence, possibly by Giuseppe Piattoli (1743-1823) with whom she collaborated on a portrait of the family of Granduca Pietro Leopoldo, which was engraved in 1785. At some stage before 1785 she married the virtuoso violinist Luigi Tonelli. It seems highly likely that she came across the work of Hugh Douglas Hamilton in Rome. Tonelli met Lord Clive, ‘Clive of India’, while he was travelling in Italy, and he employed her to make pastels of members of his family. From 1794 she taught drawing to his children in London. She exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1794 and 1797, giving her address as 97 Norton Street. The artist travelled with the Clive family to India between 1798 and 1801, moving around southern India with Lady Clive and her daughters. During her time in the subcontinent, she seems to have worked in watercolour or miniature, rather than pastel, and charged twelve to thirty guineas for a miniature. She painted the Rajah of Tanjore and Tipu Sultan on this trip. She returned to Florence in 1801.Tonelli’s work has been confused often with that of Hugh Douglas Hamilton. She is known to have copied his work for Lord Clive, producing portraits in 1790s to add to a series begun by Hamilton. In 1806 the American agent in Paris, Filippo Mazzei, engaged her to bring up his daughter Elisabetta. He provided a description of the family to Thomas Jefferson (letter, 20th July 1806) with a view to them emigrating to the USA, praising the father, a violinist ‘the peer of any other’, the two children (born c.1789–90), and the mother who ‘sings and plays the piano like an expert; knows very well her own language, French, and English; draws and paints with excellent taste; is accomplished in embroidery and all needlework; and knows geography quite well.’ Jefferson’s response highlighted the expense of living in a major city, which may have deterred the family, as by 2 November 1807 they were in Pisa with Mazzei, while by 1809 they seem to have returned to Florence.The Grange, Wendover was owned from 1789 to 1794 by John Barker Church (1748-1818). Barker Church was an English born businessman and the supplier of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He was one of the few American revolutionaries to sit in the English parliament. His brother-in-law was Alexander Hamilton the influential founding father of the United States. Hamilton and Church were not only business partners but also friends having married sisters. Hamilton went on to have a love affair with Church’s wife Angelica Schuyler. She is featured in the popular musical ‘Hamilton’ by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Church is referred to as her ‘wealthy husband’.

Chale Bay- looking out to sea from St Catherine’s Down and Oratory, Isle of WightWatercolour over traces of pencil.32.3 x 54.1 cm.; 12 ¾ x 21 ¼ inchesProvenanceSpink, London, sold 11 October 1956;Private collection U.K., until 2020;With Karen Taylor Fine Art;Private collection, U.K. until 2024Turner 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.

Signed with initials l.r.: HSM, watercolour over traces of pencil on buff paper heightened with white24 x 9 cm.; 5 ¾ x 3 ¾ inchesFrame size 27 x 18.5 cm.; 9½ x 7 ½ inchesProvenanceThe Fine Art SocietyMarks’ earlier works were usually historical and literary, especially Shakespearian and sometimes humorous. However, he became increasingly interested in painting birds and this body of work was highly praised by John Ruskin. Marks had three exhibitions in six years at the Fine Art Society in London, the first of which was Birds in Bond Street in 1889. He was a frequent visitor to London Zoo where he was frequently approached by other curious visitors . He wrote in his preface to the 1890 catalogue: “The most common remark I hear is, “Ah pretty creature! Don’t he seem to know he’s sitting for his picture?” and concluded “… I hope I may be excused, and not held too eccentric, in preferring to converse with a parrot for one hour, rather than with a politician for two”. The Victoria and Albert Museum have a holding of his work.The artist was born in London, the fourth child of John Isaac Marks, a solicitor. He studied in London at the Royal Academy Schools and later in Paris. He exhibited at the Royal Academy and elsewhere from 1853. He was elected ARA in 1870 and became a full RA in 1878.

Signed and inscribed verso: Far away in Cloudland/BWSpiers/And when the smoke ascends on high/Then thou behold'st the vanity of worldly stuff/Gone with a puff/thus think, and smoke tobacco-/G.W.-Smoking Spiritualised, watercolour over pencil heightened with gum arabic and touches of white, and further inscribed on original backing: B.W. Spiers Far Away13.5 x 18cm; 5 1/2 x 7 1/8 inchesBenjamin Walter Spiers (1845-1894) was an idiosyncratic painter of studio still lives who lived in London, at 70 Hereford Road in Bayswater, where the current watercolour may have been drawn. He crammed his antiquarian pictures with books, furniture, objects and paintings a number of which reappear in several of his still lifes. He often drew corners of interiors of his favourite antique shops in London’s Wardour Street. The bust and the chair shown in the present work appear in several of his compositions. He was captured here by an artist with the initials G W who has caught him relaxing with a cigarette in his studio. Spiers often penned a verse to accompany a picture, as in the present work.It is amusing seeing the tables turned and the artist drawn as the subject of his own studio interior. Spiers’ extraordinary fidelity in his own painting and his eclectic taste makes him the leading exponent of a particular type of 19th century interior painting. The dealer and scholar Christopher Wood considered him to be ‘one of the most remarkable painters of still-life in English Art’ (see C. Wood, ‘Knicknacks and silly Old Books’, 'Country Life', 10 June 1993, pp. 124-125).Christie’s London had a large group of Spiers work for sale on 14 December 2016. In one of these works 'Worthless old knickknacks and silly old books', based on the poem 'The Cane-Bottom'd Chair' by Thackeray, the same painting of Gainsborough's (lost) 'Cottage Children', which hangs over the fireplace in the present work, can be seen.Spiers was interested in possessions rather than objects of nature and his curiosity for antiquarian objects, books, maps, prints and china is displayed with trompe-l’oeil accuracy in his watercolours. The same objects repeatedly appear which suggests that Spiers owned them.Little is known about Spiers’ life. He lived in London, first at 17 Hereford Street, Bayswater, and then at Longwood in Acol Road, West Hampstead. He is thought to be related to Richard Phené Spiers, the architect, whose brother, Walter Spiers was a curator of the Soane Museum. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1876 to 1891, and 'The Times' Academy notice for 27 June 1881 says of his two exhibited works, ‘We consider these two works to be the gems of the water- colour gallery.’Christie’s London 14 December 2019, lot 80

KT475Dated l.r.: Aug 11, watercolour over pencil with a touch of white on grey paper17.1 x 26.1 cm.; 6 ¾ x 10 ¼ inchesProvenanceBernard Squire, Portman Square, London;Arnold Fellows, collection no. 23;Bequeathed to Queen Mary’s Grammar School, Walsall until sold by a charitable trust, 2023Lewis visited Arran in 1830. A similar drawing of identical size dated two days later is in the collection of the Courtauld Institute of Art, The Witt Collection ( D.1952.RW.3018).Arnold Fellows was a pupil at Queen Mary’s Grammar School, Walsall, between 1911 and 1917. He became a master of the school for a brief period, before moving to spend the remainder of his life as a teacher at Chigwell School in Essex. Fellows devoted much of his life to collecting art, notably works on paper, and eventually donated his entire collection to Queen Mary’s Grammar School.He was the author of The wayfarer's companion : England's history in her buildings and countryside, published by Oxford University Press, 1937.