PETER DE WINT (1784 -1849)
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PETER DE WINT (1784 -1849) |
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Gloucester Cathedral, with Ruins of Saint Catherine’s Church c.1840 watercolour with scratched out highlights on paper 28.2 x 46.2 cm inscribed on reverse: Gloucester with ruins of St Catherine’s Church P.67
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Hammond Smith dates this c.1840 and points out that de Wint’s method of blurring the foreground beneath almost abstract bands of colour enables the viewer to focus more clearly on the main subject, which is painted with greater definition. Gloucester was a favourite subject of de Wint’s, second only to Lincoln, which inspired him to produce some of his very finest watercolours – as is certainly the case here. De Wint was born at Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent. He moved to London in 1802 and was apprenticed to John Raphael Smith (1752-1812), an engraver and portrait painter. He bought his freedom from Smith by promising to supply eighteen oil paintings over a two-year period. Subsequently he took drawing lessons from VARLEY and studied at the R.A. Schools. EJ/CB PROVENANCE: Studio Sale 24 May 1850, no.317; Christie’s; J. & W. Vokins (Ellison Collection); Thos. Agnew & Sons Ltd. 1908; Christie’s 1 May 1908, lot 139; Hetherington Collection (John Muir); sold to Reginald Smith 1909; Mrs R. Smith, her sale Sotheby’s 24 January 1951, lot 78; Thos. Agnew & Sons Ltd., from whom purchased by Gallery, December 1951. EXHIBITIONS: 79th Annual Watercolour Exhibition, London, Thos. Agnew & Sons Ltd, 1952, no.36; English Watercolours from the Hickman Bacon and other collections, Bedford, Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, 1952, no.37; Watercolours and Drawings from The Cecil Higgins Art Gallery Bedford, London, Thos. Agnew & Sons Ltd, 1962, no.60; Peter De Wint, Reading, Reading Art Gallery, 1966, no.33; Peter De Wint Bicentenary Exhibition, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent Museum and Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, Laing Art Gallery, Kingston upon Hull, Ferens Art Gallery and London, Bankside Gallery, 1984-5, no.91. REFERENCES: H. Smith, Peter De Wint, 1982, pp. 147 & 163, pl.58. Copyright © Trustees of Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford. Extract taken from Watercolours and Drawings, Cecil Higgins Art Gallery by Evelyn Joll.
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