"Go to nature, rejecting nothing, selecting nothing". John Ruskin.
That same day, 16th November, next to the watercolour by H. B. Willis, I found an antique oil painting on paper, also dating back to the 19th century or maybe earlier, as the way of depicting the trees in this painting is typical of the 18th or early 19th century. Once again it was a landscape, probably Scottish, though untitled this time. It is signed by an artist named J Hakhip? of whom I could not find any records. The medium used was oil on paper, measuring 259 x 201 mm.
A fine 19th-century English painting.
'Go to nature' was the advice that 19th century influential art critic John Ruskin gave to young painters, outdoor painting or 'au plein air' as an essential component of their training as artists. The fact that the support for this painting is a sheet of paper further reinforces the idea that it was executed in nature rather than in a studio.
Since the late 18th century drawing increasingly formed part of the education of both gentlemen and ladies. Many watercolour painters were also drawing masters, and encouraged their students towards a taste for landscape painting. But nearly 250 years ago an Anglican cleric's enthusiasm for the river's beauty would change the way British would view their landscapes. Since the mid-18th century different British writers had tried to define and categorize human responses to natural phenomena, Edmund Burke with his exploration of the "sublime" and "beautiful", and Anglican cleric William Gilpin with his theory of the "picturesque". The British landscape genre was influenced by both theories. In the late 18th century Gilpin published his illustrated "Tours" of Britain, in which he defined what he considered "Picturesque" in the British landscape, literally those elements of a landscape which could form an appropriate landscape painting. Following Gilpin's Tours many 18th century travelers learned to look at the British countryside as an interesting subject for painting. Many amateur artists on sketching tours carried the famous "Claude glass" which they used to reflect actual landscapes as if they were seen in a painting, and then drawing the reflected image.
Landscape by William Gilpin. RA.
Our landscape brings together many of those "principles of picturesque beauty" by Gilpin: A low viewpoint, the varied and rough texture of nature, in the rock and in the woodlands, the absence of straight lines in the composition, the carefully placed trees, a darker lateral foreground, a brighter middle distance with the presence of the human figure, which helped to emphasize the 'sublime' of the landscape, and a more diffuse farther plane in its depiction, with a ruined castle. Ruins had originally been of interest mainly to antiquarians, and the Antiquarian Society had employed a number of artists to record notable sites. Ruins gained importance in the late eighteenth century as a suitable subject for landscape painting. According to Gilpin, ruins were "useful" in a landscape because of their broken lines, walls enhanced by moss, ivy, twisted bushes, etc., which provided "variety" through irregularity, which delighted the eye. For many, ruins were melancholy remains of a lost age of faith. This particular painting could have its origin in the so-called 'Tour of Scotland', a route through the Highlands that became "compulsory" for artists since the 18th century.
During the 18th century Britain had looked to the Netherlands and Italy in order to discover a means of describing itself in painting. Peter Paul Rubens dedicated his later life to painting landscapes for his own satisfaction, enjoying a peaceful pastoral existence. A view of Het Steen in the Early Morning (probably 1636), by Rubens, is a scene of rural idyll. After his death many of his landscapes eventually found their way to Britain, where they were greatly admired by artists such as Gainsborough and Constable. It is also important to consider the influence of Classicism, largely developed in Italy during the 17th century, when the Grand Tour became a crucial rite of passage which broadened the influence of emerging French and British painters.
The genre of British landscape flourished in the 19th century. Landscape had always played a vital role in painting, but until the 16th century this was almost exclusively as the backdrop for biblical or mythological subjects. In the first half of the 19th century the academic teachings of the official art schools dominated European painting, and drawing the human body was central to the curriculum. Students used to begin their training by copying plaster casts from sculptures, and then progressing to live drawing classes. The goal was to produce painters who could execute large-scale compositions of historical, mythological and religious subjects. Such paintings captured public attention when shown at official exhibitions, such as the Salon in Paris. In 1816 the French government instituted a 'Prix de Rome' for historical landscape, a scholarship for arts students. Prize-winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them to travel and stay in Rome for three to five years at the expense of the state, where they could develop their skills as landscape painters. By the 1830s painters were exploiting the possibilities offered by the scenery of their own countries. Two painters from southeast England would eventually become synonymous with the genre, J.M.W. Turner and John Constable. When possible, Constable sketched on pictures outdoors, and Turner explored the British landscape in terms of light and atmosphere. Britain would then influence a generation of European painters. After the Napoleonic war cultural exchange with continental Europe resumed with artists travelling back and forth across the Channel. British painting was especially admired in France. The appearance of pictures by Constable and Turner in the so-called ‘Salon des Anglais’ in Paris (1824) encouraged French artists to visit England.
Our painting contains many of the elements in the 19th century British landscape genre: land and water, ruins, woodland, hills..., elements that reflect both the above-mentioned aesthetic theories and the artistic practice described.
Another artist who could well influence this type of landscape depiction was Horatio McCulloch R.S.A. (1805-1867), with his extensive and beautiful views of Kilchurn Castle Lake, Loch Awe, the distant highlands, and the magnificent skies.
Some years later, on one of my visits to Portobello Rd market, I came across an interesting antique watercolour depicting a river scene. It was in August 2023. The painting was unsigned, but there was pencil writing on the reverse, and the framing preserved an old label on the mounting.
Thames. St Margarets, 1848. Size: 35,8 x 25,2 cm.
According to the old label, the title of the painting would be Thames. St Margarets, and the artwork would be dated 1848. However, the inscriptions on the back of the painting dated the picture even earlier, to 1845-6. According to these, the title of the work would be Isleworth. St Margarets and Isleworth are today two adjoining areas on the banks of the River Thames, on the opposite bank to Richmond Upon Thames. During the Georgian and Victorian periods, this bank of the Thames had seen the construction of numerous mansions and large houses, such as the one depicted in the painting, houses primarily built by aristocrats and high achievers. In the 19th century, part of this bank of the Thames, now St Margarets, belonged to Isleworth.
The elegant villa shown in the watercolor was probably the home and picturesque grounds of Archibald Kennedy, Earl of Cassilis. Lord Cassilis had purchased Lacy House, on the banks of the Thames and adjacent to Gordon House, when it was auctioned in 1813. Gordon House was the closest building to where River Crane flows into the Thames. Four or five years later he bought from Joseph Todd, a wealthy businessman from London, and owner of the large Twickenham Park estate, the original St. Margaret's House and its surrounding land, in the northern part of Twickenham Park. Todd retained the southern part of the estate, which reached as far as Richmond Bridge. In 1823, Cassilis demolished the old building to build a new one, which he called once again St. Margaret's House, completed in 1827.
Presumably the small islet, or eyot, in the Thames to the right of the scene is one of the Flowerpot Islands, downstream from Corporation Island. The buildings seen in the distance would be other mansions near the Crane River, one of them Gordon House. This latter, and the stretch of the Thames where Lord Cassilis' estate was located, are clearly identified on the 1864-5 Ordnance Survey map of the county of Middlesex, sheet XX, published in 1869, although by now crossed by the London and South Western Railway (Windsor Line). This map, which lists from north to south all the important villas and riverside houses in Isleworth and Twickenham, from Syon House to Strawberry Hill, connects from the north with the 1867 O S map of the county of Surrey, sheet I, published in 1871. Neither Lord Casillis's villa nor St Margarets House appear as such in either of them since, in the previous decade, the main mansion of St Margarets had been demolished. However, it is depicted in Panorama of the Thames, London to Richmond, a rare hand coloured, tourist guide published by London bookseller Samuel Leigh, portraying the Thames riverside in 1829, at the end of the Georgian period. Cassilis Villa is depicted in a lithograph after William Westall (1781-1850) entitled Seat of the Earl of Cassilis, Isleworth (1823). Westall is also the author of a drawing, Richmond Looking towards Isleworth, reproduced in lithograph in 1822, in which he captures a view of St Margarets House from a Thames path, a viewpoint with a certain proximity to that of our watercolour.
The Ackerman’s Repository of Arts, Literature, Fashions, Manufactures, etc., vol. III, April 1, 1824, Views of country-seats, St. Margaret's, The seat of the Earl of Cassilis, published a detailed account of the Cassillis estate:
«This beautiful villa, the South Front of which is represented in the annexed Engraving, is situated on the banks of the Thames, in the parish of Twickenham. It bore at one time the name of Isleworth Park, and at another the New Park of Richmond. The old house belonged successively to the Countess of Charleville, Lord Muncaster, and the Duchess of Manchester. The whole property, with what was called Twickenham Park, was purchased by Francis Gosling, Esq. who added a portion of the park to the grounds of St. Margaret's. This has been rendered classic ground by the residence of Sir Francis Bacon, who here passed many of his happiest days: here he pursued his first studies in the great book of Nature. Here imagination may picture to it self the great man making the meads and neighbouring glades his study, far from the scenes of bustle and ambition that surrounded him in maturer life. Here he had the honour of entertaining Queen Elizabeth; and it was here that he had hopes of forming a mineralogical society, as appears from a paper in the British Museum, wherein he observes:- " Let Twitnam Park, which I sold in my younger days, be purchased, if possible, for a residence for such deserving persons to study in, since I experimentally found the situation of that place much convenient for the trial of my philosophical conclusions, expressed in a paper sealed to the trust, which I myself had put in practice, and settled the same by act of Parliament, if the vicissitudes of fortune had not intervened and prevented me." This society he intended to be for the express purpose of exploring abandoned mineral works.
After Sir Francis sold the estate of Twickenham, we find that it passed through various hands, and at last became the property of Lucy, the admired but extravagant wife of Edward Earl of Bedford. She gave it, in 1618, to Sir William Harrington, who sold it to John Lord Berkeley of Stratton. It was purchased, in the year 1748, by Algernon Earl of Mountrath, from whom it passed to Sir Wm. Abdy. The estate being divided into lots, and put up to sale, the greater part was purchased by Francis Gosling, Esg. who pulled down the old mansion in Twickenham Park, and attached a considerable portion of the grounds to St. Margaret's, as has been before stated, but this beautiful villa, as it now stands, owes its present splendour and delightful arrangement, both in the house and grounds, to the noble proprietor, who has displayed great judgment in forming out of old buildings, by combining them, the very delightful villa that now constitutes the chief ornament of Twickenham Park, and of the view down the river from Richmond, from which it is seen to great advantage.
In the interior arrangement, fitting up, and combination of furniture, it vies in elegance with any thing of' the kind in the kingdom. In fact, it is so exquisite and chaste, that in admiring the suite of apartments, we forget the splendour that pervades it. The Dining Room occupies the east wing, extending along the south front: it is a fine room, lofty, and finished with a dome, from which is suspended a beautiful chandelier. Several fine pictures, by the old masters, ornament this apartment, as well as the charming anti room which connects the suite of apartments. The Drawing Room also contains some fine paintings; and connected with it is a Boudoir of singular beauty.
The Drawing-Room occupies the west wing, commanding views over the Thames to the south; while the windows to the west reach down to the ground, laying the apartment open to the verandah and pleasure grounds, which form a fine foreground to the sweetest view. The silvery Thames in all its beauty is seen issuing from beneath Richmond-bridge, which is surmounted by the far-famed Richmond Hill, gemmed with villas rising from luxuriant woods up to the very top. The middle distance is composed of delightful meadows of the richest verdure, embellished with some fine trees; while the other side of the river is ornamented with villas. These, combined with the pleasure boats and craft that are continually gliding along the polished surface of the Thames, form a scene seldom rivalled.
A terrace-walk extends along the water to a pleasing octagon pavilion, at the extremity of the grounds, from which the views are equally delightful. Isleworth, with its ivied church, backed by the rich woods of Sion, appears to great advantage from this spot. From this walk the home scene is full of interest, commanding a sweet lawn, embellished with an elegant green house to the right, while to the left the out houses are formed into the semblance of a chapel, surmounted with a picturesque tower. The lawn is divided by a bridge of considerable magnitude, overgrown with ivy, which has all the appearance of bold Gothic ruins; while through the arches is seen a fine avenue of limes of considerable length. The whole has a sequestered and monastic appearance, that well accords with its name of St. Margaret, which seems to imply that the spot has been dedicated to religion. The walks and drives over the bridge extend to the Entrance Front, which furnishes our Second View for this month. It is equally pleasing with the South Front. A colonnade extends from side to side, and is so connected with a very delightful green-house as to form a pleasing and dry walk, when the weather prevents out-door exercises. This greenhouse is most judiciously arranged, not only affording a perpetual spring walk, but being an elegant screen to the offices. The kitchen gardens are exten-sive, well walled, and abounding in fruit trees, possessing also a handsome range of hot houses and lime pits». Ackerman's text was accompanied by two views of St Margarets House by John Gendall, one from the river, the other showing the opposite façade.
There are other views of Cassilis villa from the river. One is a drawing reproduced as an engraving, St Margaret's, Twickenham Park, Seat of the Earl of Cassilis, by Frederick Smith, was reproduced in W B Cooke's 1842 Hand-Book for Richmond & Twickenham with Hints to Visitors and An Excursion by Water from London to Twickenham. Another is an etching with decorative border from 1835, Seat of the Marquis of Ailsa, engraved by W. Taylor from a drawing by William Tombleson.
W B Cooke's Hand-Book for Richmond & Twickenham also provides a description of St Margaret's House: «This handsome villa is close to the Thames, at Isleworth, and is surrounded by trees of the most beauteous growth. The whiteness of the mansion contrasting with the deep green color of the foliage, renders it a very striking object as seen from the river. The interior of the house is not less elegant. The rooms are painted of a delicate French white, and the mouldings, together with the ornamental framework of the panels and ceiling, are richly gilt. A superb effect is altogether produced, which is finely relieved by the green hue of the surrounding lawn. In the garden of this mansion nearest to Isleworth, on the river side, stood Lacy House, the seat of the highly talented Richard Brinsley Sheridan, but not a vestige of which now remains. A handsome orangery adorns the grounds, at one end of which is a dwelling (...)»
The present St Margarets area takes its name from the former villa depicted in our watercolour. In the very year of the watercolour's title, 1848, the widow of Lord Cassilis, from 1831, Marchioness of Ailsa, died (the Marquis had passed away two years earlier). The estate was auctioned and sold to Lord Kilmorey, who demolished St Margarets House and replaced it with a new building, in 1852-3. All these names have been preserved in the streets of the area: Cassilis Rd, Ailsa Rd, Ailsa Ave, Kilmorey Rd, etc. The current railway line runs through the former St Margarets estate.
There is no doubt that our watercolour is an interesting artistic and historical document, not just because it is nearly two centuries old and depicts a historic villa that disappeared only a few years after the execution of the artwork, but also because it offers a snapshot of an area that was completely transformed in a very short period of time. Unlike other historic houses and estates on the banks of the Thames, whose appearance has hardly changed over time, the meadows and grounds of Cassilis were subdivided into streets and plots, and the estate turned into a garden suburb of family homes. Moreover, the natural landscape covered by the perspective is today crossed by the Richmond Railway Bridge (1848), built in the same year as Cassilis' widow's death, and by the Twickenham Bridge (1933), for vehicles and pedestrians to cross. About half a century after the artist captured the scene, work began on the Richmond Lock, which was completed in 1894. In terms of artistic interest, it is a plein-air painting that draws inspiration from nature itself and from Constable's landscape painting, executed in a loose, diluted brushstroke that could be described as Impressionist, three decades before this artistic movement began. The artist, unknown, displays a good knowledge of the composition rules, adopting a low horizon line that seems to place the viewer on the path.
The next artwork I will bring to this post is an original watercolour I found at a charity in Winchester, Dogs Trust, the 17th February 2020. The picture is entitled “Babbacombe Bay, Torquay, Devon”(1946), and is unsigned, although it is likely by an artist named J. Fox, who dedicated it to a lady: "My wish that Evelyn has this picture of Babbacombe. Devon. J A Fox. 18/11/46". The dimensions of the watercolour are 224 x 156 mm.
Slightly faded by the passage of timeand probably by some cleaning or washing in the past -which should indicate the owner's desire to preserve the artwork-, the watercolour still shows the artistic, technical and compositional quality of the artist. J. Fox is a landscape painter whose artwork has been offered at auctions several times. During the last decades of the 19th century and the early 20th century, many British artists visited France, where they joined other European landscape artists in the schools of Barbizon, Pont-Aven and Concarneau. Others frequented English towns such as St Ives and Newlyn in Cornwall. Many painted their artworks in the Impressionist style, like in this watercolour by Fox.
Devon and Cornish coastline would become a magnet for artists throughout Britain. Babbacombe is a district of Torquay, Devon, which benefited from the arrival of artists because of its relative proximity to St. Ives and Newlyn, where artist colonies had been founded. Both towns had become popular destinations for wealthy professional landscape and marine artists who exhibited their artwork regularly at the Royal Academy in London, the Paris Salon and other prestigious European venues. On their way to Cornwall, the landscape and sea forms of Babbacombe were extremely beautifulfor an artist.
Our painting is dated 1946, shortly after the end of World War II. By this time, with London recovering from the aftermath of the war, St. Ives had become the centre of a new generation of artists. Newlyn was another of the artist colonies on British land. It flourished between 1884 and 1914. Newlyn was a fishing village adjacent to Penzance, on the south coast of Cornwall, which also attracted many artists, mainly landscape painters. As in the continental artists' colonies -Barbizon near Paris, and Pont-Aven and Concarneau in Brittany- 'plein air' painters arrived in Newlyn to paint landscape scenes in a purer environment, with strong natural light and by working directly in nature. Newlyn offered many advantages to artists: many hours of strong light, a temperate climate particularly suitable for outdoor artwork, a picturesque landscape, both rural and coastal, reminiscent of Brittany, and cheap living conditions. It was also relatively close to London, especially after the extension of the Great Western Railway to West Cornwall in 1877. It also offered an abundance of subjects: The dangers and disasters of life at sea, the daily scenes of harbour...
The day I purchased the Babbacombe Bay watercolour there was another painting at that Winchester charity, Dogs Trust, that seemed to be part of the same lot. And again it was an English landscape. The tiny watercolor was undated and unsigned. It could be from the first half of the 20th century, around 1945.
And two days later, 18th February 2020, at a charity in Maidenhead (Helen & Douglas House, shop 1887, 6 High Street), I found a curious coastal landscape. It was an original signed watercolour, and it appeared to be pretty old, probably from the early 19th century. A handwritten inscription on the dirty antique cardboard on which it was mounted read: "1812? parouy?".
Despite being protected by an old frame, the watercolor was barely visible because of the dirt accumulation. After a cleaning process and successive washings, the watercolour revealed the image that had remained hidden for many years, a composition of a small fishing village, perhaps St Ives or some coastal Cornish hamlet.
In this picture we can see a small bay in a fishing village, with barge blocks on the beach at low tide, which were used to settle barges, repair them, scraping barnacles and apply anti-fouling paint. And in the distance, a port scene with moored vessels.
The type of sailboats depicted moored at the dock, in the distance, is that of 19th century vessels, similar to those seen in the photographs by the French photographer Eugène Atget. The printing shown below is preserved at the MOMA.
La Rochelle ( c. 1896), by Eugène Atget. Gelatin silver printing. MOMA.
Finally, I will talk about other contemporary landscapes I found at the Portobello Road market. The first of these was "Thurne River - Norfolk" (2015), a small oil on board by a British artist named John Harwood, born in 1940. The landscape was painted in the summer of 2015, as the author himself explained to me on December 28, 2019, the day after acquiring the artwork. I was able to contact him thanks to a label with his details on the back of the painting.
John Harwood is an artist associated with Unit 10 Art Studio, where he works primarily in oil and pastel. In addition to landscapes he receives portrait commissions. He started drawing and painting after early retirement. Having enrolled in evening classes, he started sketching with pencil and charcoal, moved to watercolours and finally to oils. In Leigh on Sea he ran his own gallery for a while, painting landscapes and receiving commissions for portraits. Harwood is also a member of the Southend Art Club, and has won awards for both his portraits and landscapes and acts as a group leader for local portrait painting workshops.
He himself explains how he came to the painting: “I was born in and ‘bombed out’ of London in 1940 and raised in South Benfleet, Essex. After which I was educated at King Johns School, Thundersleigh and finally qualified in mechanical engineering at Manchester. After marrying Maureen, a classmate, I’ve spent a lifetime in high-tech sales to the international oil, chemical and nuclear industries.
Early retirement has allowed me to pursue a number of interests including birdwatching, fishing, music, walking, live theatre and ballet (watching not performing!). I was a semi-pro drummer in a modern jazz group for years and was told by my mother that her father played the ‘spoons’ in East End pubs. So much for my artistic pedigree!
Painting evening classes in the 80s provided a contrast to a hectic business life. Now portrait painting in oils occupies a big part of my life and I’ve become fascinated by the way in which a likeness or character can be captured on canvas. In recent years I have hugely benefited from tuition by various members of the Royal Institute of Portrait Painters”.
In addition to taking part in group exhibitions, he has also exhibited his artwork in solo shows: July 1 – August 9 2018 at Rayleigh Windmill, in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex; New Art Wall Exhibition - John Harwood: 18th February - 14th March 2019 at Leigh Community Centre...
And soon after the lockdown I found a couple of watercolours of landscapes, this time in the Golborne Road market. It was June 19, 2020. One of them, Canal Boat. Little Haywood, is signed by " J. Wonds ". The title was stated on a label attached to the reverse side, "Cat. 14. Canal Boat. Little Haywood", a tag suggesting that the artwork was catalogued at an exhibition, perhaps prior to an auction. The size of this painting is 375 x 275 mm.
The painting depicts a stretch of canal, with dense vegetation and a narrowboat approaching in the foreground, passing under a stone bridge. Little Haywood is a village in Staffordshire, England, in the West Midlands. There are three main waterways running near to Little Haywood: the River Sow, the River Trent and the Trent and Mersey Canal, which was opened in 1777. Less than 2 miles (3.2 km) northwest of Little Haywood, the northeastern end of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal joins the Trent and Mersey Canal. The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal was originally constructed in 1772 by James Brindley to link the docks at Bristol and the towns of Gloucester and Worcester with the Potteries region in Stoke on Trent and the Birmingham conurbation, via the Trent and Mersey Canal to which it links at Great Hayward junction. The china factories in the Stoke on Trent region were churning out their wares, which were being shipped out all over the world from Bristol and a canal connection was the quickest way of transporting heavy bulky raw materials from the docks at Bristol to the factories, and the finished articles from the Potteries region and the Midlands down to the ships at Gloucester and Bristol.
The other original watercolor I found that day in Golborne Road was a view of an English village from the river at low tide. Although the watercolor is untitled, it is actually a scene inspired by the small English village of Bonham in West Sussex, capturing its natural surroundings and some of its architectural features: the estuary at low tide, the spire-topped tower of Holy Trinity Church, the traditional houses, the small boat resting in the mud, etc. The watercolor is signed by 'L? Mael?ly?'. Its size, 355 x 260 mm.
In our next post we will explore the world of chromolithography as a printing technique to faithfully reproduce fine art.
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