John White Abbott Nutwell: The grounds of Nutwell Court, Devon

KT634inscribed and dated 'Canonteign July 24. 1829 [?]' on the reverse, pencil, pen and brown ink and grey wash 26.9 x 37.9 cm.; 10 ½ x 14 7/8 inchesProvenance:Agnew's, London. Anonymous sale, Phillips, London, 16 July 1996, lot 16; with Heather Newman, Painswick, Gloucestershire.Abbott was one of the best amateur watercolourists of the late Eighteenth Century. A surgeon and apothecary, he lived in Exeter until 1825. He exhibited paintings at the Royal Academy from 1793, receiving contemporary acclaim for the style of his work. The artist John Downman said that ‘he prefers his drawings before his paintings, as they are done with more spirit’ (J. Farington, Diary 26 June 1804; vol. VI, p. 2362).In 1825 Abbott inherited Fordland, a Devon estate, from his uncle James White, an Exeter barrister, Nonconformist and close friend of Francis Towne. Abbott became a patron and pupil of Towne’s, and his linear style shows the artist’s influence. After moving to Fordland he devoted himself to drawing.

Pen and brown and grey ink and watercolour on two sheets of laid paper, joined25.8 x 36.7 cm.; 10 x 14 ½ inchesProvenanceBy descent from the artist until 2015;Guy Peppiatt Ltd.;Hugo Burge (1979-2023)Abbott was one of the best amateur watercolourists of the late Eighteenth Century. A surgeon and apothecary, he lived in Exeter until 1825. He exhibited paintings at the Royal Academy from 1793, receiving contemporary acclaim for the style of his work. The artist John Downman said that ‘he prefers his drawings before his paintings, as they are done with more spirit’ (J. Farington, Diary 26 June 1804; vol. VI, p. 2362).In 1825 Abbott inherited Fordland, a Devon estate, from his uncle James White, an Exeter barrister, Nonconformist and close friend of Francis Towne. Abbott became a patron and pupil of Towne’s, and his linear style shows the artist’s influence. After moving to Fordland he devoted himself to drawing where this work is most likely to have been drawn.

Pen and grey ink and wash, inscribed verso and dated: Kerswell Oct.3.181223.7 x 37 cm.; 9 ¼ x 14 ½ inchesProvenancePrivate collection, U.K. until 2025Kerswell is a hamlet in the Teignbridge district of Devon north-east of Exeter.

Signed, inscribed and dated on original label attached to backboard: Dulverton.Somerset/JWA May 30 1800, pen and black ink and watercolour on wove paper25 x 16.5 cm.; 9 3⁄4 x 6 1⁄2 inchesProvenanceH.L.Bradfer-Lawrence;Andrew Wyld, his sale at Christie’s, London, 10 July 2012, lot 57, where bought by the present ownerExhibitedW/S Fine Art, London, Summer 2006, no. 13;W/S Fine Art, London, Summer 2009, no. 11Abbott was one of the best amateur watercolorists of the late Eighteenth Century. A surgeon and apothecary, he lived in Exeter until 1825. He exhibited paintings at the Royal Academy from 1793, receiving contemporary acclaim for the style of his work. The artist John Downman said that ‘he prefers his drawings before his paintings, as they are done with more spirit’ (J. Farington, Diary 26 June 1804; vol. VI, p. 2362).In 1825 Abbott inherited Fordland, a Devon estate, from his uncle James White, an Exeter barrister, Nonconformist and close friend of Francis Towne. Abbott became a patron and pupil of Towne’s, and his linear style shows the artist’s influence. After moving to Fordland he devoted himself to drawing.Dulverton is in west Somerset, on the edge of Exmoor and just over the border from Devon. This view, little changed today, looks east from near the bridge over the river Barle.Harry Bradfer-Lawrence (1887-1965) was an antiquary and manuscript collector. From King’s Lynn, he became chairman of United Breweries in 1960.

Signed with initials l.l.: E.A., watercolour over traces of pencil heightened with bodycolour and stopping out, with touches of red chalk, in a period burr maple frameSheet 38.9 x 27.6 cm.; 15 ¼ x 10 ¾ inches, painted area 33 x 18 cm.; 13 x 7 inchesProvenanceChristie’s, London, 3 February 2000, lot 160;Sotheby’s, Gleneagles, 30 August 2000, lot 1153;Private collection, London until 2023Alexander is best known for his exquisite watercolours of flora, fauna and the natural world.Alexander studied at the Royal Institution, Edinburgh from 1887-8, and in Paris with the sculptor Emmanuel Frémier.In 1887-8 the artist travelled to Tangier with his father and fellow artists Pollock Nisbet and Joseph Crawhall. He returned to Egypt in 1892 and lived there for four years. After his return he married Dora, moved to just outside Musselburgh, and created a menagerie that he used for his work. Plants remained important subjects for his painting and, in 1909, he illustrated J. H. Crawford’s The Wild Flowers.In 1902 Alexander was elected an associate of the Royal Scottish Academy becoming a full member in 1913. He exhibited widely including at the Royal Scottish Academy, Royal Academy, Fine Art Society, Royal Watercolour Society and the Leicester Galleries.Alexander’s work is held in the Tate Gallery, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Dundee Art Gallery and by Fife Council.

Oil on laid paper laid down on canvas20.5 x 25.1 cm.; 8 1/8 x 9 7/8 inchesProvenancePrivate collection, USA, until 2025This charming plein air sketch was made not long after the completion of the restoration of the Arch of Titus in 1824. During the early nineteenth century the integrity of the structure was spoilt by the remains of medieval stone walls and accumulations of rubble at the sides. These were cleared in the early 1820s by Giuseppe Valadier (1762–1839) who restored the Arch to something approaching its original (and current) appearance. The artist differentiates between the original Pentelic marble and the white Travertine used for the newly carved sections of the monument.On the Via Sacra to the south-east of the Forum, the Arch of Titus was designed to glorify the memory of the emperor Titus and his official deification or consecratio. It was built shortly after the death of Titus in 81AD by his brother Domitian, who succeeded him as emperor.

Graphite, with a collector’s mark l.r.14 x 19.7 cm; 5 1/2 x 7 3/4 inchesProvenance: Xavier Haas, c.1937; Professor Anne Crookshank until 2017Infernal ghosts, and hellish furies, round/Environ’d thee; some howl’d; some yell’d, some shriek’d/Some bent at thee their fiery darts, while thou/Sat’st unappall’d in calm and sinless peace.John Milton, Paradise Regained, Book 4This small but highly detailed drawing was done in late 1794 or early 1795, when Romney began to work on the subject of ‘The Temptation of Christ’, producing intense pencil sketches for a project that he barely began to realise in oils. The poet William Hayley’s son Thomas claims credit for having suggested this theme to Romney, which was inspired by a passage in Milton’s Paradise Regained [Book 4, lines 422-5].Christ can be seen seated at the bottom right of this strong drawing, with the fiends of Satan whirling around his head. There are other studies of this subject in the collection of the Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven (see Alex Kidson, George Romney 1734-1802, London 2002, p. 228).John Romney claimed that his father’s projected canvas measured about 16 by 12 feet, which would have been by far the largest painting he ever conceived, and that it was ‘equal in original conception and wild fancy to any thing ever produced by any artist..had he finished [it] it would have ranked him with Michel Angelo’ (see Romney, Rev. John, Memoirs of the Life and Works of George Romney..’, London 1830, p. 245). The rolled canvas upon which there was a nearly finished head of Christ and the beginning of Satan’s head was sent to Christie’s in April 1807 for the studio sale, was never unrolled due to its size, and subsequently disappeared.Xavier Haas was a Parisian dealer of the Galerie Haas et Gross, who formed the greatest collection of Romney drawings after the break-up of the artist’s studio.Anne Crookshank (1927-2016) was Emeritus Professor of art history at Trinity College, Dublin and played a major role in the development of the study of Irish art.

Cecil Arthur Hunt, RWS (1873-1965)Mount Etna, SicilySigned in pencil l.l.: C.A. Hunt, watercolour, inscribed on label attached to backboard: From Cecil & Phyllis Hunt/Christmas 1954/Etna9 x 13,5 cm.; 3 ½ x 5 5/8 inchesFrame size 15 x 29 cm.; 6 x 11 3/8 inchesProvenanceAgnew’s;Private collection UKHunt and his wife, Phyllis made many trips to Sicily, an island which inspired the artist. They always stayed at the Casa Cuseni, the villa in Taormina belonging to his friend and art critic, R. H. Kitson, the painter and critic, who he first met at Cambridge. Casa Cuseni is now a museum and is, perhaps, best known for its dining room designed by Sir Frank Brangwyn (1867 – 1956).

Two, each signed l.l.and l.r., each inscribed l.c.: F. Concolr./life and F. Ocelot.of.Albany./Life, watercolour over pencilEach approx. 25 x 17.5 cm.; 9 ¾ x 6 7/8 inchesThe artist was self-taught and specialised in drawings of animals and field sports.From a wealthy Quaker family, Howitt took up art professionally when he encountered financial difficulties and became a drawing master in Ealing.He married Thomas Rowlandson's sister Elizabeth in 1779 and was part of Rowlandson's circle together with George Morland, Henry Wigstead and J.R. Smith.

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.