David Roberts

Vignette

1843

BRITISH SCHOOL 19th Century STIRLING CASTLE Watercolour, signed lower right Image size: 12 x 10 inches (30 x 25.5 cm)

Pencil, watercolour and bodycolour heightened with white. Image size: 9 1/2 x 13 1/4 inches (24 x 34 cm) Hand made gilt frame Provenance The Fine Art Society 1981 (Label Verso) Priv...

Watercolour with touches of bodycolour on buff paper, signed lower middle and inscribed and dated '1839' lower left Image size: 8 1/2 x 12 1/4 inches (22 x 31 cm) Acid free mount and period style gilt frame This original watercolour by Roberts depicts the temple at Baalbek with the ruined palace behind, seen from the opposite bank of a brook, where a group of figures are seated and kneeling around a table, with an arched bridge nearby. David Roberts was the first professional British artist to travel independently to the Middle East in 1838. He was the first British artist to draw the ruins of Ancient Egypt and Roberts produced a series of finished watercolours, including the painting, which he had worked up from sketches made during his tour. Like many British artists he used the familiar visual language of European landscapes to capture the unfamiliar scenery. By using architectural motifs to provide structure to compositions like this he is able to present a dramatic scene of classical grandeur, illuminated by sunlight complemented by a large area of shade in the foreground. The dramatic scene is enhanced by the three groups of figures, which convey the sense of scale. The figures also give the picture richer, darker and redder tones that contrast with the sandy colours of the architecture. This painting uses a lot of the essential ingredients that make up a picturesque scene: distant mountains, classical ruins and figures for human interest and to convey motion. Robert's Trip to Baalbek David Roberts visited Baalbek near the end of his travels around Egypt and the Middle East. Roberts and his party rode to the site of Baalbek on 2nd May in a heavy-rain storm. He was miserable, totally drenched and feverish. But the sight of the ancient Roman settlement rallied him. Despite his physical debilitation, 'I was... so much struck with the magnificence of the temple, that I could not resist visiting and examining it'. The storm then continued through the night, pummelling the traveller's tents. In the morning, Roberts felt extremely ill and sought the help of a Greek priest, who found him dry shelter in a cowshed. For the first time on his gruelling journey, Roberts devoted the whole day to bed rest. On May 4th, regaining some strength, Roberts explored the site. With obscure origins connected with the god Baal, the city of Baalbek had grown to importance in Hellenistic times, when it was known as Heliopolis ('The City of the Sun'). In the first century B.C. the Romans had established a cult of the Heliopolitan Jupiter there, and both Josephus Flavius...

Watercolour on paper, signed bottom left Image size: 13 3/4 x 9 1/2 inches (35 x 24 cm) Mounted and framed The Generalife was a summer palace and country estate of the Nasrid rulers...

ERNEST ARTHUR ROWE 1863 - 1922 St Peter's Rome Watercolour Signed lower left Image size: 9 ¾ x 7 inches Original gilt frame

Watercolour and scratching out on paper, signed lower left Image size: 11 x 17 1/2 inches (28 x 44.5 cm) Original giltwood frame Provenance Christopher Wood Gallery R Mellon, USA ...

Frederick George Cotman (1850-1920) Lugger on the shore Watercolour with trace of pencil 9 x 10 inches Provenance: Cotman family collection Frederick George Cotman was born in Ipswich on 14 August 1850. His uncle, John Sell Cotman, was one of the cornerstones of the Norwich school and a very influential watercolourist. Frederick's first tuition came from William Griffiths...

Frederick George Cotman (1850-1920) Fishing baskets on the shore Watercolour with trace of pencil 6 x 8 inches Provenance: Cotman family collection Frederick George Cotman was born in Ipswich on 14 August 1850. His uncle, John Sell Cotman, was one of the cornerstones of the Norwich school and a very influential watercolourist. Frederick's first tuition came from William Griffiths...

Frederick George Cotman (1850-1920) A rowing boat on the shore Watercolour with trace of pencil 4¼ x 10¼ inches Provenance: Cotman family collection Frederick George Cotman was born in Ipswich on 14 August 1850. His uncle, John Sell Cotman, was one of the cornerstones of the Norwich school and a very influential watercolourist. Frederick's first tuition came from William Griffiths...

A very attractive rural scene of a fisherman and his dog on a riverbank, in very good colour and an appealing composition. Claude Hayes (1852-1922) A fisherman and his dog by a riverbank Signed Watercolour with touches of pencil 6½ x 10 inches, image only 13 x 16 inches with the frame Claude Hayes was a Dublin born painter who to avoid his father's wish to make a businessman of him ran away to sea and served on the Golden Fleece, one of the transports used in the Abyssinian expedition of 1867-68, and also spent a year in the United States. Returning to London, he studied art at Heatherley's and the Royal Academy Schools, and then in Antwerp, under Charles Verlat. He worked in Hampshire with James Aumonier and also in Surrey with William Charles Estall, whose sister he married. Hayes exhibited widely in London and provincial centres, and was elected a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours in 1886, the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in 1883, and the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour, 1902. He also showed at the RA, RBSA, Brook Street Art Gallery, Dudley Gallery, FAS, GI, Grosvenor Gallery, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, MAFA, RBA, RHA, Ridley Art Club, RSW and Walker's Gallery, London. In 1912, Claude Hayes represented England at the Venice Biennale. His work is in various public collections in England and Ireland including the Ulster Museum, Museums Sheffield, Torre Abbey Museum and the Leeds City Art Gallery. His father was the artist Edwin Hayes.

A very finely observed pair of marine watercolours. The artist has meticulously depicted the rigging of the vessels, suggesting a working knowledge of the maritime world. Richmond M...

Karl Feiertag (c.1874-1944) was an Austrian painter. He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna with Franz Rumpler, Kasimir Pochwalski, and Josef Mathias Trenkwald. He wo...