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Landscape idyll - sunset with a shepherd and flock

Maker

(artist)
1778-1842

Title

Date of Production

1840 - 1842

Medium

watercolour, bodycolour, scratching out and varnish (now with great deal of craquelure) on wove paper

Dimensions

Height: 16.8 cm
Width: 36.6 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.4293

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

Although Varley painted mostly topographical scenes (descriptions of actual places) early in his career, his later work moved away from the specifics of particular locations to evocations of mood and atmosphere such as this. The shepherd leading his flock home for the evening lends a pastoral tranquility to the scene, although the structure of this watercolour, with its jet black trees lowering behind the flock, and the darkening clouds above, are a portent of the night to come, and have been read as a reminder of the presence of death.

Provenance

Squire Gallery (London); purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), n.d.; Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

The Witt Collection - Four centuries of drawings, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 03/04/2004-20/06/2004

About Time, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 24/02/2000-30/05/2000

Material Evidence, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 30/10/1998-24/01/1999 ...More

The Northern Landscape: Flemish, Dutch and British Drawings from the Courtauld Collections, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 03/09/1986-30/11/1986; The Drawing Center, New York, 08/04/1986-26/07/1986

English Landscape Drawings and Watercolours, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 01/06/1979-01/09/1979

Exhibition of Drawings and Watercolours from the Spooner and Witt Collections, Australia, New Zealand, 1976-78

English Landscape Drawings from the Witt Collection, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 01/01/1965-01/05/1965 ...Less

Literature

About Time, Courtauld Gallery, 2000
ill.

Material Evidence, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1998-1999

The Northern Landscape. Flemish, Dutch and British Drawings from the Courtauld Collections, The Drawing Center, New York; Courtauld Institute Galleries, 1986
no. 116
ill. on p. 255 ...More

The Northern Landscape: Flemish, Dutch and British Drawings from the Courtauld Collections, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1986
cat. no. 116
ill. on p. 255

English Landscape Drawings and Watercolours, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1979
cat. no. 50

Exhibition of Drawings and Watercolours from the Spooner and Witt Collections, Australia, New Zealand, 1976 - 1978
cat. no. 21

English Landscape Drawings from the Witt Collection, Courtauld Institute Galleries, London, 1965
cat. no. 25 ...Less

Inscriptions

Inscription: J. Varley

Inscription: 5677 / J. Yarley sn.d //

Inscription: c

Collector's mark: collector's mark of Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b)

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