British Landscapes by Masterart

MACCONNAL-MASON

14 & 17 Duke Street

St James’s, London, SW1Y 6DB

Tel: + 44 (0)20 7839 7693

Fax: +44 (0)20 7839 6797

fineart@macconnal-mason.com

www.macconnal-mason.com

Chairman: David L. Mason O.B.E.

Managing Director: David M. Mason

Directors: Marcus Halliwell, Sue Palmer

Gallery Manager: Richard Pikesley

For further details regarding provenance, exhibition history and literature, please see our website: www.macconnal-mason.com

British Landscapes

We are delighted to present these 14 works celebrating the British landscape.

The landscape of Britain has long provided inspiration for artists. Whether it be the rolling hills of the South Downs, the rugged cliffs of Cornwall or the romanticised views of the mountains of Scotland and Wales, the beauty and variety of the landscape has provided endless scope for artists over the past centuries.

Early landscape painting was influenced by the Netherlandish painters and the romantic Italianate works of Claude Lorraine. His works provided the inspiration for Richard Wilson, RA (1713-1782) who, having travelled and worked in Italy, was to prove instrumental in raising the status of landscape painting in Britain.

The 19th Century saw growing prosperity and wealth in Britain funded by the Industrial Revolution, which led to increasing cultural awareness and patronage of the Arts. It was to prove a Golden Age of landscape painting where Turner and Constable, heralded throughout Europe, were to inspire further generations of landscape painters. Patrons, frequently industrialists, craved paintings of the romanticised British landscape, undesecrated by mining or ironworks, and Queen Victoria’s interest and patronage of landscape painters was significant in developing greater awareness of the genre.

This interest in landscape painting continued into the 20th Century with artists influenced by the Impressionists and subsequently the Modernist and Abstract movements, and always inspired by the British landscape.

Our collection of works from the 19th and 20th Centuries brings together some of the most renowned British landscape painters, their works celebrating both the beauty and rich diversity of the landscape, from the enchanting woodlands of John Atkinson Grimshaw’s Adel Woods and tranquil riverside views of the Stour by Sir Alfred Munnings and Frederick W. Watts, to the craggy landscape of Snowdonia captured by Wales’ best known artist, Sir Kyffin Williams. Collectively these painters have influenced both our love of the countryside and the way that we view Britain.

For more information on any of the works, please contact our gallery, or visit our website: www.macconnal-mason.com

We look forward to seeing you here at our two galleries in St. James’s, or at the International Art Fairs, which are listed at the rear of this brochure.

David L. Mason, O.B.E. Chairman

On the Stour, Dedham Oil on canvas

39 x 52 in – 99 x 132 cm

Frederick Waters Watts was a painter of quintessential English landscapes greatly influenced by John Constable, who was his neighbour in Hampstead. It is highly likely that the two artists were acquainted considering the influence of Constable on Watts’s style and subject matter, and the relatively small population of Hampstead at that time. Watts was particularly interested in depicting locks, water mills and river scenes and, like Constable, strove to depict these as honestly as possible. While he did imitate many elements of the master’s style, he maintained his own distinct palette.

A highly successful artist, his works were widely collected in his lifetime, and he exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1821 to 1860, at the British Institute, the Royal Society of British Artists and the National Watercolour Society. Museums: Hereford; Leeds; London, The Royal Society of Arts, Victoria and Albert Museum; Newport; Nottingham; Oxford, Ashmolean Museum; Connecticut, Yale Center for British Art

1. FREDERICK WILLIAM WATTS (1800-1870)

2. JOHN ATKINSON GRIMSHAW (1836-1893)

Stapleton Park

Oil on canvas

30 x 50 in – 76.2 x 127 cm

Exhibited:

London, Royal Academy, Pre-Raphaelite and Other Masters, The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection, 20 September – 12 December 2003

John Atkinson Grimshaw was a Leeds-born painter renowned for his haunting nocturnal scenes of the gas-lit streets, misty harbours and cityscapes of Glasgow, Liverpool, Whitby, Scarborough and London. In addition to nocturnes, from 1870 onwards he painted, what are broadly referred to as, his ‘lane scenes’ - atmospheric views of leafy suburban lanes bathed in an all-encompassing glow, creating a scene that is rich in atmosphere and yet serene, this present work of Stapleton Park being an exemplar.

Located just outside Pontefract in the parish of Darrington, Stapleton Park was originally the property of Edward Lascelles, who succeeded to the title of Baron Harewood in 1796. It was a location that Grimshaw returned to and painted several times at different times of the day and year.

Grimshaw painted primarily for private patrons and exhibited only 5 works at the Royal Academy between 1874 and 1886.

3. JOHN ATKINSON GRIMSHAW (1836-1893)

The Seven Arches, Adel Woods Oil on panel 13 x 10¾ in – 33 x 27.5 cm

Provenance: Sir Stirling Moss, O.B.E.

Largely self-taught, Grimshaw’s early works of the 1860’s show the influence of the Pre-Raphaelites, one of whose circle was the Leeds-born painter John William Inchbold, whose jewel-like detailed landscapes inspired Grimshaw’s own.

Adel Woods is one of Grimshaw’s earliest works inspired by the Art critic and watercolourist John Ruskin, who exhorted artists to be true to nature, and both his and the Pre-Raphaelite influence can be seen in the minute detail throughout this work.

Museums: Bradford; Gateshead; Halifax; Harrogate; Huddersfield; Hull; Kirklees; Leeds; Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery; London, Tate Gallery and the Guildhall Art Gallery; Preston; Scarborough; Wakefield; Whitby; Kansas; Minneapolis; New Haven; New Orleans; Rhode Island; Victoria and Port Elizabeth

4. GEORGE VICAT COLE, RA (1833-1893)

Wargrave on Thames

Oil on canvas

35 x 56¼ in – 89 x 142.9 cm

Exhibited: London, Royal Academy, 1881, no.203

In 1870 Cole was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy, the first pure landscape painter of 20 years, and a full member 10 years later. 1874 saw the artist move to Little Campden House in Kensington, an indication of his success and affluence. In 1877 his RA exhibit Arundel was highly praised and purchased by the Art Gallery of New South Wales and in 1879, now in what was to be the high point of an illustrious career, William Agnew commissioned the Thames series, initially 6, expanded to 25, views of the River Thames from its source to the sea, of which Wargrave, a village on the river near Henley, is a prime example.

Cole was to devote his remaining years to the much acclaimed Thames series, which proved commercially highly successful; the Pool of London of 1887 was purchased by the Charity Bequest for £2,000, a previously unheard of figure. The series cemented his reputation as one of the finest English landscape painters of the 19th Century.

Museums: Bristol, Bournemouth, Cardiff; Darlington; Glasgow; Liverpool; London, Tate Britain, Victoria & Albert Museum, Guildhall Art Gallery, Government Art Collection and Royal Academy; Manchester; Newcastle; Portsmouth; Sheffield; Southport and Wolverhampton

The Crystal Palace, and its grounds, Sydenham, London Oil on canvas

41¼ x 75½ in – 104.8 x 191.8 cm

Designed by Sir Joseph Paxton (1803-1865), the Crystal Palace was built to house the Great Exhibition of 1851 in Hyde Park. Its huge glass and iron structure took 9 months to complete, covered over 19 acres of Hyde Park, and was opened on 1st May 1851 by Queen Victoria to great fanfare. Once the Exhibition was over, the whole building was relocated at Penge Place Estate, in Sydenham, and the surrounding park landscaped.

The painting can be dated to 1856-1866, the period when the building existed in its totality and the period when the Grand Waterworks were still functioning, albeit only occasionally. Of particular interest are the concrete models of ‘extinct animals’ created by Waterhouse Hawkins, the earliest known and recognisable models of dinosaurs, and which can still be seen on the site of The Crystal Palace.

5. Attributed to EDMUND JOHN NIEMANN (1813-1876)

6. ALFRED AUGUSTUS GLENDENING (1840-1921)

Harvest time

Oil on canvas

29½ x 50 in – 75 x 127 cm

Born in Hampton, near Richmond upon Thames, Alfred Augustus Glendening painted naturalistic views of Kent, the Sussex Downs and River Thames, as well as more dramatic scenes of the Scottish Highlands and Snowdonia’s mountains. His paintings often depicted serene waterways, pastoral activities, and idyllic rural settings, which were characterized by a soft and delicate technique with fluid brushstrokes.

This idyllic scene, with a distant plume of smoke from a cottage, probably set in Surrey, exemplifies Glendening’s romanticised view of Harvest Time, an uplifting high summer landscape.

Highly successful during his lifetime, he exhibited over 130 paintings between 1865 and 1903, mostly at the Royal Academy and at the British Institute and at Suffolk Street.

Museums: Adelaide and Sydney

The Essex Hunt, with St. Andrew’s Church, Ashingdon in the distance Oil on canvas

30 x 43¾ in – 76.2 x 111 cm

Provenance: Edward Cecil Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh; Viscount Elveden

Born in Ipswich, Samuel Henry Alken was the elder son of Henry Alken senior (1785-1851), one of a large dynasty of sporting artists. He painted hunting scenes, racing subjects including the Derby on a number of occasions, equestrian portraits and coaching scenes, which he executed in oil or watercolour in a similar style to his father, although his works were generally more colourful and detailed in handling. This work exemplifies the artist at his finest while the extraordinary detail seen throughout the composition reflects Alken’s renowned skill as an engraver.

Museums: Doncaster; Liverpool, Walker Gallery; London, National Army Museum; Suffolk

7. SAMUEL HENRY ALKEN (1810-1894)

8. SIDNEY RICHARD PERCY (1822-1886)

In the Lake District, Rydal Water Oil on canvas

24 x 38¼ in – 61 x 97 cm

Born into the celebrated Williams family of artists, which included his father and brothers, Sidney Richard Percy went on to become one of the most feted landscape painters of the 19th Century, exhibiting over 300 paintings during his lifetime at the Royal Academy, the British Institution, and the Royal Society of British Artists. He travelled all over the British Isles, depicting landscapes from Devon to the Highlands of Scotland, but it was the landscape of the Lake District and his beloved North Wales that inspired and moved him the most.

This beautiful rendition of the Lake District is characteristic of Sidney Richard Percy’s finest work, which often included seated figures, cattle and sheep and above all reflections of sky and mountains on water.

Museums: Cardiff, National Museum of Wales; Hull; Leeds; London, Royal Collection of H.M. the Queen and Tate Gallery; Sheffield

Burn, Northumberland

Pencil, watercolour and bodycolour on paper 17½ x 35¼ in – 44.5 x 89.5 cm

Myles Birket Foster established himself early on as an engraver and book illustrator, spending his free time painting watercolours outdoors. He travelled widely, painting the Scottish countryside, the Rhine Valley, the Swiss lakes and Venice before settling in Surrey in 1863. Here he commenced painting the romantic and idealised views of the English countryside for which he was to become so well known. His watercolours are noted for their fine detail, delicate brushwork and soft harmonious colour palette, as here in this view of the undulating hills of Warks Burn in Northumberland.

His remarkable skills saw him exhibit over 400 works at the Royal Academy during his lifetime.

Museums: Aberdeen; Birmingham; Glasgow; London, Victoria and Albert Museum and Manchester

9. MYLES BIRKET FOSTER, RWS (1825-1899) Warks

10. SIR KYFFIN WILLIAMS, RA (1918-2006) Eryri, Snowdownia Oil on canvas

29½ x 49⅝ in – 75 x 126 cm

Sir Kyffin Williams was born John Kyffin Williams, 9th May 1918 at Llangefni on the Island of Anglesey in North Wales. The surrounding landscape of his native island and the mountains of Eryri, or Snowdonia, across the Menai Straits were to prove a lifelong inspiration to the artist.

Williams enrolled at the Slade from 1941-44 and taught art at Highgate School in North London 1944-1973. In 1968 he was awarded Winston Churchill fellowship to paint the Welsh communities in Patagonia and from 1973 he devoted his career to painting the farms and landscapes of Wales. His style and technique were very much his own, land and sky rendered in paint spread thickly with a knife, stone walls and rocks delineated in broad strokes of black.

Williams exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1946. He exhibited widely, at the Royal Society of British Artists, the New English Arts Club and at the Royal Cambrian.

Museums: Aberystwyth; Bangor; Cardiff, National Museum of Wales and National Library of Wales; Coventry; Langefni; London, Government Art Collection and Royal Academy; Oriel Mon; Southport and Swansea, Glyn Vivian Art Gallery

11. SIR ALFRED J. MUNNINGS, KCVO,

PPRA (1878-1959)

Willows on the Stour Oil on canvas 20 x 24 in – 50.8 x 61 cm

Munnings was a great English landscape painter in the tradition of Constable, an artist with whom he had much in common. They shared a love of the Stour Valley and its landscape; and in Munnings’ case, he portrayed the unspoilt country as a rebuttal of the modern industrialised world beyond its borders.

Munnings had been brought up at Mendham on the River Waveney in Norfolk. He moved to Castle House Dedham in 1919 close to the River Stour, which he described as ‘a perfect river… in unspoilt country’. The Stour had been a thoroughfare for barges going to and fro, from the farmlands of Suffolk to the coast at Harwich; for the artist, the Stour was a source of peace and tranquillity.

In this composition pollard willows surmount the riverbank, while beyond we see the even pasture. Short, stippled brushstrokes pick out reflections of the sky in the gently flowing river and waterlilies, reeds and waterweed are implied by dashes of impasto. There is an overriding impression of tranquillity and calm. It is a work by an artist totally at ease with his subject.

Museums: Aberdeen; Birmingham; Dedham, The Munnings Art Museum; Glasgow; Liverpool; London, Tate Britain; Newcastle; Norwich; Southampton; Connecticut, Yale Center for British Art

12. CHARLES GINNER, ARA (1878-1952)

Bishop’s Cleeve from Cleeve Hill Oil on canvas

24 x 20 in – 61 x 50.8 cm

Born in France, and having studied at the École des Beaux Arts and Academie Vitti, Ginner worked and exhibited in Buenos Aires. He returned to London where he became a founder member of the influential Camden Town Group, one of the most significant movements in 20th Century British Art.

Following the war, in which he served as an official war artist, he continued to paint in his unique and remarkably consistent style.

The present painting depicts Bishop’s Cleeve, a small village south of Tewksbury, so named for its 9th Century monastery that sits at the foot of Cleeve Hill, the highest point in the Cotswolds, and is rendered with his thicklyladen brushstrokes, producing a richly textured surface.

Museums: Aberdeen; Cambridge; Leeds; Liverpool; London, Tate Britain and Imperial War Museum; Manchester; Southampton and Swansea

13. CAMPBELL ARCHIBALD MELLON, RBA, ROI

(1876-1955)

Hopton Sands, near Gorleston Oil on canvas

16 x 22 in – 41 x 56.2 cm

Born in Berkshire, 16th June 1876. It was with his move to Nottingham in 1903 that Mellon first studied painting under Carl Brenner (1838-1888), a nephew of the landscape painter Benjamin Williams Leader (1831-1923).

Following the war Mellon settled in Gorleston, Norfolk, where he turned to painting as a career, studying with Sir John Alfred Arnesby Brown, RA (1866-1955) with whom he became firm friends. Mellon inherited a certain similarity of brushwork, and an interest in East Anglian atmospheric conditions, many of his coastal scenes are inscribed with dates and times. It is for his coastal scenes, as here, with figures picked out in impasto and fluid brushstrokes, that Mellon is best known. He exhibited at the Royal Academy 1924-1955, Norfolk and Suffolk scenes, excepting the war years when he moved to Hereford. Mellon was elected to the Royal Institute of Painters in Oil in 1938, and to the Royal Society of British Artists in 1939 and exhibited widely; he was Chairman of the Great Yarmouth Art Society. Following his death in Gorleston 28th August 1955, a memorial exhibition was held at the Norwich Castle Museum in February 1956.

Museums: Bristol; Chelmsford; Great Yarmouth; Leeds; London, The Government Art Collection and Sheffield

14. JOHN EDWARD NEWTON, RI (fl.1835-1891)

View near Sefton

Oil on canvas

21⅝ x 32⅝ in – 55 x 83 cm

John Edward Newton was a Liverpool-born illustrator and painter of landscapes, still life and figurative subjects, heavily influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites. A regular exhibitor at the Liverpool Academy (1856-1857), his early works were highly detailed views and scenes of North Wales, and the landscape around Sefton and the River Alt, close to where he was living to the north of Liverpool. Following his move to London in 1866 he adopted a broader style of painting, depicting views of London, Putney and Hampstead, which he exhibited at the Royal Academy, Suffolk Street Galleries, the New Watercolour Society, the British Institution and at the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour, of which he was a member.

The tightly executed and precise brushwork of his earlier work is exemplified in this present work depicting a stretch of slow-flowing river in the farming countryside surrounding Sefton, through which the River Alt runs. It was painted in 1853 when the artist was living in Seaford, prior to his move to nearby Litherland.

Museums: Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery

We are exhibiting at the following Art Fairs: