Peter de Wint, O.W.S. (1784-1849)

The SIR GEOFFREY HARMSWORTH and DR. DONALD ROMAN Collection of Views of Lincolnshire This collection of views of Lincolnshire formed by the late Sir Geoffrey Harmsworth and the late Dr Donald Roman, is unusual because the emphasis is on views of a county rather than of a period or a particular painter and therefore gives a good insight into how Lincolnshire was seen through the eyes of different artists at different times. Peter de Wint's name is inextricably linked with Lincolnshire and, as one would expect, the core of the collection is made up of a number of wonderfully atmostpheric views by him of Lincoln and its environs painted in his typically broad washes. There is also a group of his oil paintings which retain the freedom and spontaneity of his watercolours while exploring the potential of the oil sketch in the same way as his contemporary Constable did. Many of the large group of de Wints in the sale were shown at the famous exhibition of his work organised by Sir Geoffrey Harmsworth and held at the Usher Art Gallery, Lincoln in 1937. Although Peter de Wint was born in Staffordshire and lived all his working life in London he also had strong links with Lincolnshire, which may be said to have had a dominant effect on his landscapes. As an apprentice to the engraver and painter John Raphael Smith he got to know the artist William Hilton the Younger, later a history painter and member of the Royal Academy. Hilton came from Lincoln and de Wint paid his first visit there in 1806, meeting Hilton's sister Harriet (see lot 189) whom he was to marry in 1810. Thenceforth the three of them shared a home in Percy Street, London, until 1827, and from 1814 to 1835 the de Wints also lived in Hilton House, Drury Lane, Lincoln. De Wint exhibited Lincolnshire subjects from 1809 onwards and although his landscapes ranged over England and Wales, and also abroad to Normandy, a large proportion were devoted to Lincoln itself or to the county. The artist's daughter Harriet stressed the importance of Lincolnshire for his work: 'Most of his early and valuable studies were made at Lincoln and the neighbourhood, where he ever found new beauties and new subjects, and what a common-place observer would consider flat and unmeaning was in his eyes picturesque. The long extensive distances with their ever varying effects, the flats bordering the river covered with cattle, the groups of cattle in the Brayford, the cornfields and hayfields, and above all the magnificent cathedral seem from so many points, afforded him unceasing delight' (H. de Wint, A Short Memoir of the Life of Peter de Wint and William Hilton, R.A., published privately c.1900, reprinted in H. Smith, Peter de Wint, 1784-1849, 1982, p.122). All these elements are reflected in this important and wide-ranging collection of his works. It seems that the majority of the watercolours by de Wint share the same provenance which is Helen Tatlock (the artist's daughter), Miss Harriet Helen Tatlock (the artist's granddaughter), Miss Muriel Bostock (Miss Helen Tatlock's companion) before belonging to Sir Geoffrey Harmsworth and Dr. Donald Roman. However, Sir Geoffrey is known to have bought some de Wint's during his lifetime and so the Tatlock provenance has not been included where we have been unable to verify it.

细节

Peter de Wint, O.W.S. (1784-1849)
Harvesters below Lincoln Cathedral
inscribed and numbered on the reverse of the mount '11/Miss Tatlock/16 Park Square/Regents Park.'; pencil and watercolour
9¾ x 18¼in. (250 x 465mm.)

来源

Helen Tatlock.
Harriet Helen Tatlock.
Muriel Grace Bostock.

展览

London, Royal Academy, Winter Exhibition, 1908, no.241.
Lincoln, Usher Art Gallery, Peter de Wint Exhibition, 1937, no.37.
Reading, Reading Art Gallery, Peter de Wint, 1966, no.72.
London, Agnew's, Loan Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Peter de Wint, no.47.
Stoke-on-Trent, Stoke-on-Trent City Museum and Art Gallery, Peter de Wint Bicentenary, 1984, no.47a.