Hugh William 'Grecian' Williams (1773-1829)

Lanark, a distant View of the old Church

Details

Hugh William 'Grecian' Williams (1773-1829)
Lanark, a distant View of the old Church
inscribed 'VANITAS VAN/ITATUM/OMNIA EST/VANITAS' (on a gravestone) and inscribed 'Thro' an Arch of the/Old Church/Of Lanark' (on the backing)
pencil and watercolour
8½ x 11.7/8 in. (21.6 x 30.1 cm.)

Provenance

Anon. sale, Christie's London, 5 March 1974, lot 121 (90 gns. to Browne).

Lot Essay

This watercolour can be compared to Thro' an Arch at Caernarvon sold at Christie's Glasgow, 26 April 1990, lot 532 (£750). The quotation on the gravestone from Ecclesiastes, Book I, verse ii, reads: 'Vanity of vanities, all is vanity '.
Dr. Joe Rock of the Edinburgh University dates both watercolours to 1797.

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