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Masters of Water-Colour Paintings


see caption

EDITED BY GEOFFREY HOLME

LONDON: THE STUDIO, LTD., 44 LEICESTER SQUARE, W.C.2

1922-1923

v
CONTENTS

PAGE
Introduction by H. M. Cundall, I.S.O., F.S.A.
1
ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOURS

PLATE
Bonington, Richard Parkes
Near Jumièges
xxiv
Cotman, John Sell
Classical Scene
xiii
Cox, David
Boys Fishing
xviii
Cozens, John Robert
Lake Nemi
x
Dayes, Edward
Furness Abbey, Lancashire
vii
De Wint, Peter
St. Albans
xvi
Farington, R.A., Joseph
Scotch Landscape
v
Fielding, A. V. Copley
Lake Scene
xvii
Girtin, Thomas
Landscape
xi
Glover, John
View in North Wales
xv
Harding, James Duffield
Vico, Bay of Naples
xx
Hearne, Thomas
View of Gloucester
iv
Holland, James
A Shrine in Venice
xxii
Hunt, William Henry
Plucking the Fowl
xxi
Malton, Thomas, Jun.
Old Palace Yard, Westminster
vi
Prout, Samuel
Palazzo Contarini Fasan on the Grand Canal, Venice
xix
Pyne, James Baker
View in Italy
xxiii
vi
Rooker, A.R.A., Michael (Angelo)
Village Scene
iii
Rowlandson, Thomas
Entrance to Vauxhall Gardens
ix
Sandby, R.A., Paul
Windsor Castle: View of the Round and Devil’s Towers from the Black Rock
i
Towne, Francis
On the Dart
ii
Turner, R.A., J. M. W.
Lucerne: Moonlight
xii
Varley, John
Hackney Church
xiv
Wheatley, R.A., Francis
Preparing for Market

THE EDITOR DESIRES TO ACKNOWLEDGE HIS INDEBTEDNESS TO MR. A. E. HUTTON, MR. R. W. LLOYD, MR. VICTOR RIENAECKER, MR. G. BELLINGHAM SMITH AND MESSRS. THOS. AGNEW & SONS WHO HAVE KINDLY LENT THEIR DRAWINGS FOR REPRODUCTION IN THIS VOLUME.


1
INTRODUCTION

The earliest form of painting was with colours ground in water. Egyptian artists three thousand years B.C. used this method, and various mediums, such as wax and mastic, were added as a fixative. It was what is now known as tempera painting. The Greeks acquired their knowledge of the art from the Egyptians, and later the Romans dispersed it throughout Europe. They probably introduced tempera painting into this country for decoration of the walls of their houses. The English monks visited the Continent and learnt the art of miniature painting for illuminating their manuscripts by the same process. Owing to opaque white being mixed with the colours the term of painting in body-colour came in use. Painting in this manner was employed by artists throughout Europe in making sketches for their oil paintings.

Two such drawings by Albrecht Dürer, produced with great freedom in the early part of the sixteenth century, are in the British Museum. The Dutch masters also employed the same means. Holbein introduced the painting of miniature portraits into this country, for although the monks inserted figures in their illuminations, little attempt was made in producing likenesses. As early as the middle of the seventeenth century the term “water colours” came into use. In an inventory, in manuscript, of the personal estate of Charles I, which was sold by an Act of Parliament, numerous pictures are thus described.

Wenceslaus Hollar, a native of Prague, came to England in 1637, and became drawing-master to the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York. The painting of landscapes was first introduced by him into this country. He made topographical drawings with a reed pen, and afterwards added slight local colours. The earliest Englishman known to follow this style was Francis Barlow. He is principally noted for his drawings with a pen, slightly tinted, of animals and birds, with landscapes in the background. Later, Peter Monamy, a marine painter who was born in Jersey, produced drawings in a similar manner. Early in the eighteenth century Pieter Tillemans came to England, and painted hunting scenes, race-horses and country-seats. He worked in a free style in washes of colour without any outlines with a pen or underlying grey tints. 

To a “Natural History of Birds,” by George Edwards, library keeper to the Royal College of Physicians, published in 1751, is added an appendix, entitled, “A Brief and General Idea of Drawing and Painting in Water Colours: Intended for the amusement of the curious rather than the instruction of artists.” In it he states, “There are two ways of painting in water colours: one by mixing white with your colours and laying on a thick body; the other is only washing your paper or vellum with a thin water tinctured with colour.” After giving details of the methods to be employed he adds, “the former method of using water colours is called painting and the other washing or staining.” During the latter half of the century it became a fashion for landed gentry to have engravings made of their country seats, and antiquarian publications with illustrations were produced. These created a demand for 2 topographical draughtsmen to assist the engravers. In the catalogues of the Exhibitions of the Society of Artists, the first of which was held in 1760, the drawings by these men are styled as being “stained,” “tinted,” or “washed.”

The English School of Water-Colour Painting was now firmly established, and several artists have been claimed to be the “father” of it. Amongst them were William Tavener, an amateur painter, whose drawings were never topographically correct, as he exaggerated buildings to give them a classic appearance; Samuel Scott, a marine painter and styled the English Canaletto, he was called by Horace Walpole “the first painter of the age—one whose works will charm any age,” and was also a friend of Hogarth; also Alexander Cozens, born in Russia and the reputed son of Peter the Great, but lately it has been suggested that Richard Cozens, a ship-builder, who went to Russia in 1700, may have been his father. He was sent to Italy to study art, and afterwards came to England. He professed to teach amateurs how to produce pictures without study. Edwards, in his “Anecdotes of Painting,” describes his process as dashing out a number of accidental large blots and loose flourishes from which he selected forms and sometimes produced very grand ideas. Dayes called him “Blotmaster-general to the town.”
The painter, however, who is most generally regarded as being the father of water-colour painting was Paul Sandby, R.A. He first obtained employment in the Military Drawing Office of the Tower of London. Afterwards he resided with his elder brother, Thomas Sandby, at Windsor. At first he painted in the usual tinted manner of the period, but later he worked with body-colour, by which manner he added considerable richness to his drawings. Windsor Castle: View of the Round and Devil’s Towers from the Black Rock (Plate I) is an admirable example of his latter method. The drawing has been acquired through the Felton Bequest Fund, and now hangs in the National Gallery of Victoria. Paul Sandby was for many years the chief drawing-master at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. He was also appointed by George III to give instruction in drawing to his sons.

The work of Francis Towne has only of recent years come to be appreciated. He belonged to a Devonshire family, but the exact place of his birth is not known. He became a friend of William Pars, A.R.A., from whom he received some instruction in drawing, and also went with him to Rome in 1780. Although he spent considerable time on the Continent, numerous drawings by him exist of scenes in his native country. On the Dart (Plate II) is a good example of his delicate method of painting. His special skill lay “in the management of even pen-line and in a subtle modulation of colour upon a flat surface.”

Amongst the early topographical men was Michael (Angelo) Rooker, A.R.A. The additional Christian name is said to have been given to him by Paul Sandby, under whom he studied for some time. He made pedestrian tours through England, and executed a large number of drawings, which are remarkable for their accuracy and delicate treatment, such as the Village Scene (Plate III).
3
Thomas Hearne was a contemporary with Rooker. It was a custom at this period for topographical artists to travel abroad with British Embassies to foreign countries and with Governors to Colonial possessions. Photography had not yet been invented, and the drawings by these artists were the only means by which the majority of inhabitants of this island were able to obtain some idea of places beyond the sea. Hearne went to the Leeward Isles, as draughtsman to the Governor, and produced records of the scenery there. Afterwards he executed a number of drawings in this country, some of which were engraved in “Antiquities of Great Britain.” View of Gloucester (Plate IV) is an example of his accurate drawing, though somewhat weak in colouring. Joseph Farington, R.A., received instruction in drawing from Wilson, and his paintings show slight evidence of it, as may be seen from the Scotch Landscape (Plate V), but he simply copied Nature without enduing his work with any of his master’s poetic reeling. Thomas Malton, Junr., was noted for the accuracy with which he drew architectural views, many of them being street scenes in London, and they are of considerable value as records. Old Palace Yard, Westminster (Plate VI) is interesting as showing buildings on the north side of Henry VII’s Chapel of the Abbey, which have long since been demolished. He published works aquatinted by himself, including Westminster, which appeared in 1792. He held classes at which Girtin and Turner attended. The latter used to say, “My early master was Tom Malton.” Edward Dayes was a versatile artist; he painted architectural subjects, into which he frequently introduced figures, such as Furness Abbey (Plate VII), executed miniatures and engraved in mezzotint. He also wrote several works on art. Buckingham House, St. James’s Park, in which a number of the beau monde are seen promenading in the park, is one of his best paintings. An engraving of it by F. D. Soiron, produced in 1793, under the title of Promenade in St. James’s Park, was very popular.

Francis Wheatley, R.A., was a topographical artist, but is better known as a painter of genre subjects, especially by the engravings after “The Cries of London.” Preparing for Market (Plate VIII) is a good example of his latter work, which was somewhat insipid.

The reputation of Thomas Rowlandson, who could paint landscapes with great ability, rests upon his caricatures, which were usually drawn in outline and tinted. He lived a somewhat dissipated life, and possessed an abundant sense of humour, as displayed in the Entrance to Vauxhall Gardens (Plate IX), the noted place of amusement and rendezvous of the fashionable set in the early part of the last century.

John Robert Cozens, the son of Alexander Cozens, was the first artist at this period “to break away from the trammels of topography, and to raise landscape painting in water colours to a branch of fine art.” He travelled abroad and studied principally in Italy and Switzerland. The lake of Nemi, situated in the Campagna, some sixteen miles west of Rome, and reached by the famous Via Appia, has always been a favourite subject with both poets and artists. Near the north rim of the 4 worn-out crater, in which the lake is  situated, is the village of Nemi, surmounted by a fine old castle, which passed through the hands of many noble families. Pope, Byron, and others have sung the praises of the lake. Turner has left at least five drawings of it, one of which is engraved in Hakewell’s “Italy.” William Pars, Richard Wilson and other artists of the early landscape school also painted the scene. Cozens made many drawings of Nemi and the vicinity. Two are in the Victoria and Albert Museum and another is in the Whitworth Institute, Manchester. The painting (Plate X), belonging to Mr. R. W. Lloyd, shows the lake with Palazzo Cesarini on a height by its side, and the Campagna in the distance. It is a fine example of Cozens’ work treated in his poetic manner, and into which more colour than usual has been introduced. Cozens’ last visit to Italy was made in 1782 in company with the noted William Beckford, the author of “Vathek.” On his return he gradually lost his reason. It is pathetic to think such was the sad end of a man inspired with such artistic talents. As it has already been stated, he was the pioneer in exalting water-colour painting to a fine art. His footsteps were quickly followed by Girtin and Turner. The history of these two artists, how during their early struggles they were befriended by that art patron, Dr. Thomas Monro, a capable water-colour painter himself, and well qualified to give advice, is too well known to need repetition.

Girtin, during his short career, had no selfish ideas of keeping his knowledge of painting to himself. It was mainly due to his initiation that a club was started amongst a small body of young artists for the study of landscape painting. They met at each other’s houses in rotation. One of its prominent members was Sir Robert Ker Porter, a painter, traveller and author, who afterwards married a Russian princess. He was living, at the time, at 16, Great Newport Street, which had formerly been a residence of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and subsequently that of Dr. Samuel Johnson. It was in this house that the first meeting of the club was held “for the purpose of establishing by practice a School of Historic Landscape, the subjects being designs from poetick passages.” Writing in The Somerset House Gazette, in 1823, W. H. Pyne, under the pseudonym of Ephraim Hardcastle, states “this artist (Girtin) prepared his drawings on the same principle which had hitherto been confined to painting in oil, namely, with local colour, and shadowing the same with the individual tint of its own shadow. Previous to the practice of Turner and Girtin, drawings were shadowed first entirely throughout, whatever their component parts—houses, castles, trees, mountains, fore-grounds, middle-grounds, and distances, all with black or grey, and these objects were afterwards stained or tinted, enriched and finished, as is now the custom to colour prints. It was this new practice, introduced by these distinguished artists, that acquired for designs in water colour upon paper the title of paintings: a designation which many works of the existing school decidedly merit, as we lately beheld in the Exhibition of the Painters in Water Colours, where pictures of this class were displayed in gorgeous frames, bearing out in effect against the mass of glittering gold as powerfully as pictures in oil.” Girtin had a partiality for 5 painting in a low tone of colour and frequently on rough cartridge paper, which assisted in giving a largeness of manner to his work. The Landscape (Plate XI) is, however, rendered in a brighter key than his usual practice.

As limitation of space will not admit of giving any account of the life of Turner, already well known, it may be sufficient to say that Lucerne: Moonlight (Plate XII) was painted in 1843, and was originally in the collection of Mr. H. A. J. Munro of Novar. Ruskin, who calls it a noble drawing in his “Notes on his Drawings by the late J. M. W. Turner,” makes a mistake in the title and describes it as Zurich by Moonlight. John Sell Cotman, a member of the Norwich School, was another pioneer who did much for the advancement of water-colour painting. Unfortunately, his work was not appreciated during his career. If he had lived in the twentieth century he would have had no cause for the fits of depression to which he was subject during the greater part of life. It can be well recognised that in the first half of last century the public, who were mainly accustomed to carefully drawn topographical scenes, failed to appreciate such paintings as the Classical Scene (Plate XIII), executed with such freedom and vigour. It was recently exhibited at the Special Exhibition of Cotman’s Paintings at the Tate Gallery, when five other classical landscape compositions were also shown. Cotman’s work was not understood. His paintings, both in oil and water colour, often only realised less than a pound apiece. He was compelled to resort to teaching in order to support his family. Eventually, through the influence of his friend, Lady Palgrave, and the strong support of Turner, he obtained the post of drawing-master at King’s College School, London. His position then became more secure. Still, teaching boys in the underground rooms of Somerset House could not have been inspiriting to one who yearned to seek Nature in the open air. He could not exclaim, like “Old” Crome, when he with his pupils was once met on the banks of the Yare, “This is our academy.” He died of a broken heart. At the beginning of the nineteenth century there was a feeling amongst the artists who worked solely in water colours that they were not being fairly treated by the Royal Academy. They were ineligible to be elected members of that body, and they were of opinion that their works were never placed in a prominent position on the walls of the galleries. William Frederick Wells, a friend of Turner and said to have suggested to him the idea of producing his “Liber Studiorum,” proposed to his fellow artists that they should form a separate society for the promotion of water-colour painting. After considerable negotiations, ten artists met together in November, 1804, and founded the Society of Painters in Water Colours. The first exhibition was held in the Spring of the following year at rooms in Lower Brook Street. After various vicissitudes and many changes of abode this society, known in later years as the “Old” Society, eventually obtained a lease of the premises in Pall Mall East. Thus, after much roving for seventeen years, a permanent home was secured, and the centenary of the occupation of these galleries has just been completed. Varley and Glover were two of the original members. 6 De Wint, Copley Fielding, David Cox and Samuel Prout were subsequently elected Associates, and afterwards became full members.
Amongst the founders the name of John Varley stands out beyond the others. He was born at Hackney (see Plate XIV) in 1778. Receiving but little instruction in art besides the assistance given to him by Dr. Monro, he became a teacher of considerable reputation. Amongst his pupils were many who afterwards became famous. To mention only a few, there were William Mulready, who married his sister, Copley Fielding, who espoused his wife’s sister, W. Turner (of Oxford), David Cox, William H. Hunt, Oliver Finch and John Linnell. Varley was a prolific worker, and contributed more than seven hundred drawings to the “Old” Society, averaging about forty works annually. His style was broad and simple, with tints beautifully laid, without resort to stippling. He wrote some works on drawing and perspective. He also was an enthusiast in astrology, and compiled a “Treatise on Zodiacal Physiognomy.” John Glover was a landscape painter and produced works, both in oil and in water colours, into which he frequently introduced cattle. His father having been a small farmer may account for this partiality for animals. In water-colour painting he followed the methods of William Payne, the inventor of a grey tint known as Payne’s grey, in producing foliage by splitting the hairs of his brush in order to give a feeling of lightness, and he was partial to sunlight effects (see Plate XV). He was President of the “Old” Society on two occasions, but he resigned his membership, so as to become eligible for election to the Royal Academy. He failed in his object and joined the Society of British  Artists. Glover suddenly left England in 1831, and went to the Swan River Settlement in Australia. Afterwards he removed to Tasmania, where he died.

Peter De Wint, a descendant of an old merchant family of Amsterdam, like Glover, painted in oils and water colours, but his work was far superior. He selected broad and open country for his scenes, which were executed in a rich tone with a tendency to heavy uniform green. The neighbourhood of Lincoln, where his wife, a sister of W. Hilton, R.A., was born, had special attractions to him. St. Albans (Plate XVI) shows the abbey in the ruinous state it had become from the time of the Reformation. Its restoration was not commenced until 1856, under the direction of Sir Gilbert Scott, and completed later by Lord Grimthorpe. Anthony Vandyke Copley Fielding belonged to an artistic family. His father was a painter and three of his brothers all practised art with success. He was one of the most fashionable drawing-masters of his day, and a strong supporter of the “Old” Society. After being treasurer and next secretary, he was appointed president in 1831, which post he retained during his life. He was a most prolific worker and contributed about seventeen hundred drawings to the Society’s exhibitions, besides showing at the Royal Academy and Royal Institution. At first his favourite subjects were lake and mountain scenery (see Plate XVII). After he took up his residence at Brighton he turned his attention to marine painting and depicted many storms at sea. It has been exaggeratedly said that Copley Fielding was "perhaps the greatest artist after Turner for representations 7 of breadth and atmosphere." Ruskin also praised his work. Owing, however, to his very rapid method of execution there was a considerable sameness in his work.

The drawings by David Cox, although executed in an apparently careless manner, give a greater rendering of atmospheric qualities and of irradiation of light with a feeling of more movement than can be found in the works of Fielding. Cox’s early drawings were executed in a somewhat stiff and restrained manner, with a delicate finish, but afterwards his style became broad and he produced those breezy effects which are almost unrivalled. Boys Fishing (Plate XVIII) is an excellent example of his later work. When Cox returned to his native town, Birmingham, he devoted his attention to working in oils, and the City Art Gallery possesses a superb collection of his paintings in this medium. He was for the greater part of his life a teacher of drawing, and he published a “Treatise on Landscape Painting and Effect in Water Colours,” in which his views are clearly stated.*

Samuel Prout, one of the numerous Devonshire painters, also derived a great part of his income by giving instruction in drawing and painting. Numerous drawing copies for students were produced by him by means of soft-ground etching. He was at first employed by John Britton, the author of “The Beauties of England and Wales,” in making topographical drawings for this work. In 1819 he went to Normandy for the benefit of his health. There he turned his attention to producing those paintings of cathedrals and picturesque buildings for which he is noted. Later he travelled through Germany and Switzerland to Italy, and visited Rome and Venice (see Plate XIX). Afterwards he published facsimiles of many of the drawings executed during these tours on the Continent. They were produced in lithography by himself on the stone, an art in which he greatly excelled. The architectural drawings by Prout are remarkable for their picturesque treatment, rather than for correctness of construction. Details are sparsely indicated by the use of a reed pen. Bright effects of light and shade are, however, given, and the introduction of groups of figures add brilliancy to these paintings.

James Duffield Harding, like Prout, from whom he received some lessons, also excelled in lithography. Many of his paintings were reproduced by him in a publication entitled “Sketches at Home and Abroad.” He visited Italy on two occasions. Vico, in the Bay of Naples, between Castellamare and Sorrento (Plate XX), is an example of his free manner of painting. An engraving of it appeared in the “Landscape Annual” in 1832. He was a member of the “Old” Society, and also painted in oils. William Henry Hunt, familiarly called “Old” or “Billy” Hunt in his latter years by his fellow artists, to distinguish him from William Holman Hunt, was an artist with a style peculiar to himself. He painted figures, especially young rustics, with a sense of humour, but he is chiefly noted for his exquisite fruit and flower pieces, which were executed with great delicacy and with a remarkable power of rendering the effects of light and shade on the surface of the objects. To obtain these he would 8 roughly pencil out, say, a group of plums, and thickly coat each one with Chinese white, which would be left to harden. On this ground he afterwards painted his colours with a sure hand. By this means he would obtain a brilliant effect. Further, to enhance it, he would make free use of the knife on the various surroundings to give a contrast, and at the same time to produce a feeling of texture on the various surfaces, so as not to have a monotonous and flat appearance. This method of scraping up portions of the surface of the paper is clearly shown in Plucking the Fowl (Plate XXI).

James Holland commenced his artistic career by painting flowers on pottery at the factory of James Davenport at Burslem. He came to London and continued to paint flowers. After a visit to Paris he devoted himself to landscapes. Subsequently he visited Venice, and produced, in both oils and water colours, some excellent paintings remarkable for their brilliant colouring (see Plate XXII).

James Baker Pyne, born at Bristol, was a self-taught artist. He also is noted for his brilliant colouring, but there is a want of solidity in his painting. He visited the Continent and travelled as far as Italy (see Plate XXIII). His landscapes were chiefly river and lake subjects. He published “The English Lake District” and “The Lake Scenery of England,” illustrated with lithographs of his works. He was a member of the Society of British Artists, and became a vice-president. Like Girtin, the illustrious young painter Richard Parkes Bonington was cut off in life at the early age of twenty-seven. He was born at Arnold, near Nottingham. Whilst still a boy he was taken by his parents to Calais, where he received some instruction in water colours from Francia. Later the family settled in Paris. Here Bonington resided the greater part of his life. He made a few visits to England, and on the last occasion he was taken ill and died of consumption. He practised at the Louvre and the Institut, and also received instruction from Baron Gros. His paintings, in oil and water colours, were almost entirely executed in France; he, however, made one visit to Italy. In Paris his works were chiefly architectural with street scenes, admirably executed, whilst his landscapes with fine atmospheric effects (see Plate XXIV) display great freedom in execution. It is somewhat remarkable that after Cotman and Bonington had, in the first part of the nineteenth century, developed a style so greatly appreciated at the present time, so many of the landscape painters in water colours in the early Victorian era should still have adhered to the old restricted methods. Constable exercised considerable influence on the French landscape painting in oil, whilst Bonington showed the French artists the capabilities of water colours, which they did not fail to appreciate.
H. M. Cundall.
* The “Treatise” has recently been republished as the Special Autumn Number of The Studio.




see caption
“WINDSOR CASTLE: VIEW OF THE ROUND AND
DEVIL’S TOWERS FROM THE BLACK ROCK”

BY PAUL SANDBY, R.A.
(Size, 11¾ × 17¼ IN.)
(Acquired by the National Art Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne)


see caption
“ON THE DART”
BY FRANCIS TOWNE
(Size, 7 × 9¾ IN.)
(In the possession of A. E. Hutton, Esq.)


see caption
“VILLAGE SCENE”
BY MICHAEL (ANGELO) ROOKER, A.R.A.
(Size, 14½ × 18¼ IN.)
(In the possession of Victor Rienaecker, Esq.)


see caption
“VIEW OF GLOUCESTER”
BY THOMAS HEARNE
(Size, 7½ × 10½ IN.)
(In the possession of Victor Rienaecker, Esq.)


see caption
“SCOTCH LANDSCAPE”
BY JOSEPH FARINGTON, R.A.
(Size, 20¾ × 33¾ IN.)
(In the possession of Victor Rienaecker, Esq.)


see caption
“OLD PALACE YARD, WESTMINSTER,”
BY THOMAS MALTON, JUN.
(Size, 13 × 19 IN.)
(In the possession of R. W. Lloyd, Esq.)


see caption
“FURNESS ABBEY, LANCASHIRE”
BY EDWARD DAYES
(Size, 27½ × 20¾ IN.)
(In the possession of Victor Rienaecker, Esq.)


see caption
“PREPARING FOR MARKET”
BY FRANCIS WHEATLEY, R.A.,
(Size, 14 × 10 IN.)
(In the possession of Messrs. Thos. Agnew & Sons)


see caption
“ENTRANCE TO VAUXHALL GARDENS”
BY THOMAS ROWLANDSON
(Size, 9 × 12? IN.)
(In the possession of Victor Rienaecker, Esq.)


see caption
“LAKE NEMI”
BY JOHN ROBERT COZENS
(Size, 14½ × 21 IN.)
(In the possession of R. W. Lloyd, Esq.)


see caption
LANDSCAPE
BY THOMAS GIRTIN
(Size, 12¼ × 20½ IN)
(In the possession of R. W. Lloyd, Esq.)


see caption
“LUCERNE: MOONLIGHT”
BY J. M. W. TURNER, R.A.
(Size, 11½ × 18¾ IN.)
(In the possession of R. W. Lloyd, Esq.)


see caption
“CLASSICAL SCENE”
BY JOHN SELL COTMAN
(Size, 11½ × 8¼ IN.)
(In the possession of G. Bellingham Smith, Esq.)


see caption
“HACKNEY CHURCH”
BY JOHN VARLEY
(Size, 11 × 15 IN.)
(In the possession of R. W. Lloyd, Esq.)


see caption
“VIEW IN NORTH WALES”
BY JOHN GLOVER
(Size, 16? × 23 IN.)
(In the possession of Victor Rienaecker, Esq.)


see caption
“ST. ALBANS”
BY PETER DE WINT
(Size, 9¾ × 14½ IN.)
(In the possession of R. W. Lloyd, Esq.)


see caption
“LAKE SCENE”
BY A. V. COPLEY FIELDING
(Size, 12¼ × 16? IN.)
(In the Possession of Victor Rienaecker, Esq.)


see caption
“BOYS FISHING”
BY DAVID COX
(Size, 10½ × 14½ IN.)
(In the possession of R. W. Lloyd, Esq.)


see caption
“PALAZZO CONTARINI FASAN
ON THE GRAND CANAL, VENICE”

BY SAMUEL PROUT
(Size, 16? × 11½ IN.)
(In the Victoria and Albert Museum)


see caption
“VICO, BAY OF NAPLES”
BY JAMES DUFFIELD HARDING
(Size, 8½ × 11¾ IN.)
(In the possession of Victor Rienaecker, Esq.)


see caption
“PLUCKING THE FOWL”
BY WILLIAM HENRY HUNT
(Size, 13¾ × 14½ IN.)
(In the possession of R. W. Lloyd, Esq.)


see caption
“A SHRINE IN VENICE”
BY JAMES HOLLAND
(Size, 9¾ × 6½ IN.)
(In the possession of Victor Rienaecker, Esq.)


see caption
“VIEW IN ITALY”
BY JAMES BAKER PYNE
(Size, 10¾ × 17 IN.)
(In the possession of R. W. Lloyd, Esq.)


see caption
“NEAR JUMIEGES”
BY RICHARD PARKES BONINGTON
(Size, 8¾ × 12¼ IN.)
(In the possession of Messrs. Thos. Agnew & Sons)

La Loge by Renoir (The Theater Box)


Renoir at the Theatre: Looking at La Loge from The Courtauld Gallery http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/exhibitions/2008/renoir/furtherinfo.shtml

Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s La Loge (The Theatre Box), 1874, is one of the masterpieces of Impressionism and a major highlight of The Courtauld Gallery’s collection.  Its depiction of an elegant couple on display in a loge, or box at the theatre, epitomises the Impressionists’ interest in the spectacle of modern life. 

La Loge was Renoir’s principal exhibit in the first Impressionist exhibition in Paris in 1874.  The complexity of its subject matter and its virtuoso technique helped to establish the artist’s reputation as one of the leaders of this radical new movement in French art.  Renoir’s brother Edmond and Nini Lopez, a model from Montmartre known as ‘Fish-face’, posed for this ambitious composition.  At the heart of the painting is the complex play of gazes enacted by these two figures seated in a theatre box.  The elegantly dressed woman lowers her opera glasses, revealing herself to admirers in the theatre, whilst her male companion trains his gaze elsewhere in the audience.  In turning away from the performance, Renoir focused instead upon the theatre as a social stage where status and relationships were on public display.

 ‘Stop’ (Louis Morel-Retz) (1825-99) Aux Italiens (At the Italian Theatre) Caricature from Le Petit Journal pour Rire, 1857 The Courtauld Gallery, London Theatre in Paris was a rapidly expanding industry during the 19th century, dominating the cultural life of the city.  At the time of La Loge it was estimated that over 200,000 theatre tickets were sold every week in Paris.  Theatres ranged from the popular variety act venues to the fashionable elegance of the great opera houses.  The burgeoning wealth of the middle classes meant that the logesof the premier theatres were no longer the preserve of high society.  From the 1830s onwards celebrated caricaturists such as Honoré Daumier (1808-79) and Paul Gavarni (1804-66) seized upon the theatre box as a rich theme for social satire. 

By the 1870s leering men with over-sized opera glasses, middle-aged women struggling to maintain their appeal, fathers parading their elegant daughters, and gauche visitors from the provinces had emerged as stock types in weekly magazines such as Le Petit Journal pour Rire.  The interest in the theatre, and particularly the loge as a space for social display, was also harnessed by the booming fashion industry which catered to the aspirational and newly wealthy middle class.  Lavishly produced journals such as La Mode Illustrée included fine hand-coloured engravings showing the latest fashions modelled by elegant ladies in theatre boxes .  A rich selection of this little-known graphic material from contemporary Parisian journals will be on display in the exhibition.

Renoir’s La Loge received enthusiastic reviews when it was first exhibited in Paris in 1874 and later that year it travelled to London for an exhibition organised by his dealer Durand-Ruel, making it one of the first major Impressionist paintings to be shown in this country. However, the painting did not sell at either exhibition and was bought inexpensively the following year by the minor dealer ‘Père’ Martin for 425 francs, providing Renoir with much needed funds to pay the rent.  When Samuel Courtauld purchased it in 1925 the status of the painting had risen considerably along with the price which was now £22,600 and one of Courtauld’s most expensive acquisitions.  Today La Loge is celebrated as one of the most important paintings of the Impressionist movement.  This exhibition will cast new light upon Renoir’s masterpiece and the spectacle of the Parisian theatre which it captures.


Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) At the Concert, 1880 Oil on canvas, 99 x 80 cm  As the first artist to make the theatre box a subject for modern painting, Renoir drew on this popular visual culture, which would also have shaped the context in which his paintings were viewed.  At the time of the first Impressionist exhibition Renoir had been particularly concerned with the loge and, in addition to the Courtauld picture, produced two smaller canvases, both of which will be displayed in the exhibition. Renoir returned to the theme in two later canvases.  At the Theatre, 1876-7, (National Gallery, London) takes an oblique view of a theatre box, setting a young woman and her companion off against the blurred mass of the audience.  At the Concert, 1880, (The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown) is one of Renoir’s most monumental treatments of the subject.  This work started as a portrait of the family of Monsieur Turquet, the under-secretary of state for the fine arts, posed in their opulent theatre box.  Renoir subsequently altered the composition, painting out his male patron who was originally shown in the background, and transforming the image into a fashionable but anonymous genre scene. 

Le Bénédicte by Chardin


"What the painters Watteau, Nattier, Boucher, Fragonard did in commemoration of the court life of their century, Chardin did for the life of the lower class"  

Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin (November 2 1699 – December 6, 1779) was an 18th-century French painter. He is considered a master of still life,[1] and is also noted for his genre paintings which depict kitchen maids, children, and domestic activities. Carefully balanced composition, soft diffusion of light and granular impasto characterize his work. Chardin worked very slowly and painted only slightly more than 200 pictures (about four a year) total.

Chardin's work had little in common with the Rococo painting that dominated French art in the 18th century. At a time when history painting was considered the supreme classification for public art, Chardin's subjects of choice were viewed as minor categories.

 He favored simple yet beautifully textured still lifes, and sensitively handled domestic interiors and genre paintings. Simple, even stark, paintings of common household items (Still Life with a Smoker's Box) and an uncanny ability to portray children's innocence in an unsentimental manner (Boy with a Top nevertheless found an appreciative audience in his time, and account for his timeless appeal.

 Largely self-taught, Chardin was greatly influenced by the realism and subject matter of the 17th-century Low Country masters. Despite his unconventional portrayal of the ascendant bourgeoisie, early support came from patrons in the French aristocracy, including Louis XV. Though his popularity rested initially on paintings of animals and fruit, by the 1730s he introduced kitchen utensils into his work (The Copper Cistern, ca.1735, Louvre).

Soon figures populated his scenes as well, supposedly in response to a portrait painter who challenged him to take up the genre.  Woman Sealing a Letter (ca. 1733), which may have been his first attempt, was followed by half-length compositions of children saying grace, as in Le Bénédicité, and kitchen maids in moments of reflection. These humble scenes deal with simple, everyday activities, yet they also have functioned as a source of documentary information about a level of French society not hitherto considered a worthy subject for painting.

 The pictures are noteworthy for their formal structure and pictorial harmony. Chardin has said about painting, "Who said one paints with colors? One employs colors, but one paints with feeling."

Chardin frequently painted replicas of his compositions—especially his genre paintings, nearly all of which exist in multiple versions which in many cases are virtually indistinguishable. Beginning with The Governess (1739, in the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa), Chardin shifted his attention from working-class subjects to slightly more spacious scenes of bourgeois life.]

In 1756 he returned to the subject of the still life. In the 1770s his eyesight weakened and he took to painting in pastels, a medium in which he executed portraits of his wife and himself. His works in pastels are now highly valued.  Chardin's extant paintings, which number about 200, are in many major museums, including the Louvre.


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Self-portrait, 1771, pastel, Musée du Louvre, Paris.
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The age of innocence, Reynolds


The Age of Innocence is an oil on canvas picture by Sir Joshua Reynolds, painted in either 1785 or 1788. The sitter is unknown, but was possibly Reynolds's great-niece Theophila Gwatkin (who was three in 1785), or Lady Anne Spencer (1773-1865), the youngest daughter of the 4th Duke of Marlborough.

 The picture is a character study, or, in 18th-century terms, a fancy picture, and was painted over another Reynolds work, A Strawberry Girl, perhaps because Strawberry had suffered some paint losses. Only the hands remain in their original state. 


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Reynolds 



The Last of England by Ford Madox Brown

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The Last of England is an 1855 oil-on-panel painting by Ford Madox Brown depicting two emigrants leaving England to start a new life abroad.

 Brown began the painting in 1852 inspired by the departure of his close friend, the Pre-Raphaelite sculptor, Thomas Woolner, who had left for Australia in July of that year. Emigration from England was at a peak, with over 350,000 people leaving that year. Brown, who at the time considered himself "very hard up and a little mad", was himself thinking of moving to India with his new family.

Although Ford Madox Brown was never a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, The Last of England, like many of his paintings, exhibits all the characteristics of the movement. The painting depicts a man and his wife seeing England for the last time. The two main figures, based on Brown and his wife, Emma, stare ahead, stony-faced, ignoring the white cliffs of Dover which can be seen disappearing behind in the top right of the picture. The clothing indicates that family are middle class, so are not leaving for the reasons that would force the emigration of the working classes; Brown's writing touched on the same theme:

The educated are bound to their country by quite other ties than the illiterate man, whose chief consideration is food and physical comfort

The fair-haired child in the background behind the man's shoulder is Brown and Emma's child, Catherine, who was born in 1850. The hand of the baby, which can be seen clasped by the woman, is supposedly that of their second child, Oliver.

In order to mirror the harsh conditions in the painting Brown worked mostly outside in his garden, and was happy when the weather was poor — he recorded his feelings of delight when the cold turned his hand blue, as this was how he wanted it to appear in the painting. He was seen as strange by his neighbours who saw him out in all kinds of weather. He composed a short verse to accompany the painting in which the woman is depicted as hopeful for the future:

...She grips his listless hand and clasps her child,
 Through rainbow tears she sees a sunnier gleam,
 She cannot see a void where he will be.

Brown's painting room was above a china shop at 33 High Street, Hampstead and sittings took place in the house's garden. His diary noted that the '...ribbons of the bonnet took me 4 weeks to paint'. The picture was voted Britain's eighth-favorite picture in a poll carried out by BBC Radio


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Brown (Above) and his known piece "Work" 


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