Francis Danby, A.R.A. (Wexford, Ireland 1793-1861 Exmouth, Devon)

The Avon Gorge from the Stop Gate below sea walls

Details

Francis Danby, A.R.A. (Wexford, Ireland 1793-1861 Exmouth, Devon)
The Avon Gorge from the Stop Gate below sea walls
signed 'F Danby' (lower left)
pencil, pen and black ink and watercolour with scratching out on paper
12½ x 17½ in. (32,8 x 44.5 cm.)

Provenance

Sir Thomas Marchant Williams (1845-1914); Christie's, London, 3 December 1906, lot 46.

Exhibited

Bristol, Bristol City Art Gallery, January 1906, no. 9, lent by Sir Marchant Williams.
London, W/S Fine Art, Summer 2009, no. 14.

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Lot Essay

This is the sixth Danby watercolour lent by Sir Thomas Marchant Williams to the Third Loan Exhibition at Bristol Art Gallery in 1906, formerly believed to be lost. A smaller version of the present watercolour, featuring a slightly different arrangement of boats and figures, is in the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. Greenacre dates the Bristol Museum version to circa 1818. The present version is probably earlier; it has every appearance of dating from around 1815, about two years after the artist arrived in Bristol. The tower in the distance, above St Vincent's Rocks, is the ruin of a windmill that was later converted into an observatory by the Bristol-based artist William 'Waterfall' West. Its camera obscura is functional to this day.

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