by-nc

Ptarmigan

Maker

(artist)
1694-1773

Title

Ptarmigan

Date of Production

(June) 1764

Medium

graphite, watercolour and bodycolour on laid paper

Dimensions

Height: 38.3 cm
Width: 32.1 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.4531

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

George Edwards produced over 600 drawings, to be reproduced in publications such as 'A Natural History of Uncommon Birds and Animals...', 4 vols, 1743-51. This watercolour demonstrates the way in which attitudes towards the medium varied according to the category of work being produced. The bright green used here would have been anathema for a landscape watercolourist; Edward Dayes advised "The vegetation should not be coloured too green ... as nothing can have a more common or vulgar air, than too much green."

Provenance

Walker Galleries (London); purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), n.d., for 400 shillings; Witt Bequest 1952

Literature

Blunt, Anthony, Hand-list of the drawings in the Witt Collection, London, 1956
p. 18

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: Recto, left centre: "J WHATMAN".

Collector's mark: none.

Inscription: Recto: lower right (within drawing), brown ink, signed and dated: “G. Edwards Delin: June. 1764.”. Mount (removed, cut down and glued to new mount): graphite, underlined: “Ptarmigan”.

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