David Cox, RWS Hay-on-Wye, Wales

KT587 Signed and dated l.l.: D. Cox/1824, watercolour over pencil 22.6 x 28.9 cm.; 8 ¾ x 11 3/8 inches Provenance Colnaghi (exhibited as ‘In the Wye Valley’); Viscount Eccles (1905-1994); Abbott and Holder; from where acquired by Peter Roberts until 2023 Exhibited Probably the Society of Painters in Water-Colours, 1824, no. 289, Hay Field – View near Hereford This 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.

Inscribed l.r.: Bruges, watercolour 7.6 x 11.4 cm; 3 x 4½ inches Provenance Spink & Son Ltd, London, K3/1890b, part of a group purchased from Appleby Brothers, 2 August 1960. This spontaneous, on-the-spot sketch was presumably done when Cox visited Bruges in 1826. His first trip to the Continent was organised by his brother-in-law Mr Gardener, an agent for the sale of government ordnance maps who had premises at 163 Regent Street, London. Gardener persuaded Cox and his son David Cox Jr to accompany him on a business trip to Brussels. The party travelled from Dover to Calais and then, travelling by diligence, on to Dunkerque, Bruges and Brussels. Cox evidently liked the caps worn by the market women in Belgium as he sketched them again in Brussels.1 1. See N. Neil Solly, Memoir of the Life of David Cox, 1873, reprinted 1973, p. 49.

Watercolour over pencil with scratching out18.2 x 22.8 cm.; 7 ¼ x 9 1/8 inches Provenance Quentin and Molly Bridge until 2020 Exhibited Martyn Gregory, British Watercolours & Drawings, 2020, no. 8 This 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.

Signed and dated l.l.: David Cox. 1836, watercolour over pencil with scratching out 18 x 26 cm In 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.

Oil on panel 22 x 27 cm.; 8 ¾ x 10 5/8 inches Provenance The artist’s widow, Lady Kelly; Michael Parkin Fine Art Ltd; From whom purchased by J.G. Cluff, private collection U.K. until 2022 Born in London of Irish descent, Kelly was educated at Cambridge University, later living and studying art in Paris where he met Degas, Monet, Renoir and Sickert. Whistler was also an early influence as were Cézanne and Gaugin. Kelly was an enthusiastic traveller, visiting many countries from Egypt to China. His sketches of his travels are pleasingly spontaneous and tend to be painted more freely than his finished portraits. He became a successful society portraitist whose sitters included Somerset Maugham, whom he painted several times, and he undertook numerous state portraits. Kelly is represented in many public collections, including the Tate, which holds seven works. He had retrospective exhibitions at the Leicester Galleries in 1950 and in 1957 at the RA. He was elected RA in 1930, was the Academy's Keeper from 1943-45 and President, defeating Augustus John in the election, from 1949-54. Kelly held a number of official positions, such as membership of the Royal Fine Arts Commission, 1938-43, and was knighted in 1945. Between 1909 and 1970 Kelly exhibited over 300 works at the RA. During his lifetime his work became well known through popular prints.

Signed l.r.: W. HUNT, pencil, tiny sketches of figures and a list verso, on wove paper 12 x 8.4 cm.; 7 ¼ x 4 ¾ inches Provenance: Cyril and Shirley Fry until 2021 Literature: J. Witt, 'William Henry Hunt (1790-1864)', 1982, no. 370 Exhibited: '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).

Inscribed l.c.: Zaffia in Barbaria, pen and brown ink and wash on laid paper, collector’s mark on old backing 23.1 x 33.7 cm; 9 1/8 x 13 1/4 inches Provenance: Anna Place, the artist’s widow until 1732;Frances Wyndham, the artist’s daughter; Her nephew Francis Parrott ;By family descent to Francis Parrott Jr; His sister Elizabeth, widow of Captain John Fraser of Hospitalfield, Arbroath; Her daughter Elizabeth and Patrick Allan-Fraser; His sale, Sotheby’s, June 1931, lot 133; Sir Bruce Ingram, (Lugt, 1405a); R.E.S. Willison;Sotheby’s London, 19 November 1987, lot 85; Michael and Justina Ryan until 2019 This is a view of Safi, southwest of Casablanca in western Morocco. The sixteenth century fortress built by the Portugese dominates the town. Another drawing of this town from a slightly different aspect by Jan Peeters (1624-78) (View of Zaffia in Barbary c.1665, pen, brown ink and grey wash, on paper) also belonged to Sir Bruce Ingram and is now in the Fitzwilliam Museum (PD.587-1963). Place was the earliest English artist whose main preoccupation was with landscape. He travelled on foot through Yorkshire, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and France, and was thus a forerunner of the sketching tours of artists a hundred years later. He knew Wenceslas Hollar (1607-1677), whose topographical work influenced his style and who accompanied an expedition to Tangier in 1669 to make records of the area. Place also worked as a book illustrator, pioneer of mezzotint and experimental potter (see E. Croft-Murray and P. Hulton, 'Catalogue of British Drawings', vol. I, British Museum, 1960 pp. 456-470). This drawing is recorded on page 10 of the 'Drawings Notebook' at Hospitalfield House, Arbroath which was compiled by Wadham Wyndham, the artist’s son-in-law.

Pen and grey ink and watercolour and pencil 27.4 x 43.1 cm.; 10 3⁄4 x 17 inches Provenance Christie’s, London, 21 November 2002, lot 20; where bought by the previous owner; Private collection, U.K., until 2022 The present work is a significant example of Rowlandson’s landscape draughtsmanship. It probably dates from the same time as a smaller view of Glastonbury showing the abbey from the main street and marketplace of the town in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum (Dyce Collection) which was etched by the artist as plate 24 of Rowlandson's World in Miniature, No. 2, 1816. Rowlandson has used a certain amount of artistic license in his interpretation of the topography.

KT475 Dated l.r.: Aug 11, watercolour over pencil with a touch of white on grey paper 17.1 x 26.1 cm.; 6 ¾ x 10 ¼ inches Provenance Bernard Squire, Portman Square, London; Arnold Fellows, collection no. 23; Bequeathed to Queen Mary’s Grammar School, Walsall until sold by a charitable trust, 2023 Lewis 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.

KT514 Signed and dated on mount l.l.: E. Dayes 1791, pen and grey ink and watercolour with touches of bodycolour over traces of pencil on wove paper, on original laid paper mount 21 x 13.9 cm.; 8 ¼ x 5 ½ inches Provenance Sotheby’s, 25 January 1989, lot 54, where bought by James Hall, his collection no. 23, until 2022 The Abbey was founded for the Cistercians between 1175 and 1178 by Hervey de Montemarisco, Marshall of Henry II, who became its first abbot. At the Reformation Henry VIII granted the Abbey to Sir Osborne Itchingham. The church is one of the longest Cistercian churches in Ireland.