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Distant view of the Clee Hills

Maker

(artist)
1784-1849

Title

Date of Production

c. 1844

Medium

watercolour and bodycolour with scratching out on wove paper with pinholes all around the edges

Dimensions

Height: 34 cm
Width: 50.6 cm

Accession Number

D.1967.WS.103

Mode of Acquisition

William Wycliffe Spooner, bequest, 1967

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

This highly worked watercolour may have been exhibited at the Society of Painters in Watercolours in 1844. Its complex construction indicates that it was created entirely in the studio. Rather than the usual panoramic view and flat foreground commonly seen in his work, De Wint has framed the distant Clee Hills with wooded banks. Bare, windswept trees and long dark shadows give the impression of impending winter.

Notes

Possibly exhibited at the Old Water Colour Society, in 1844 or 1847. De Wint favoured Creswick paper such as that used here; although it was not made after 1830, it likely remained available at stationers and colourmen for a while.

Provenance

the artist's estate sale, Christie's (London), 22-24 and 27 May 1850, lot 419; W. F. Chambers; G.H. Coles; purchased from him by Colnaghi (London), 30 January 1956; purchased there by Mr and Mrs William Wycliffe Spooner, Ilkley (1882-1967), 19 March 1956 (£220); Spooner Bequest 1967

Exhibition History

Old Watercolour Society, 1844 or 1847?

British Watercolours from the Spooner Collection, Huntington Museum and Art Gallery, Los Angeles, 12/02/2005-15/05/2005

British Watercolours from the Spooner Collection, Huntington Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 12/02/2005-15/05/2005; Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere, 18/07/2005-23/10/2005; Hermitage Rooms, Somerset House, London, 16/11/2005-12/02/2006 ...More

A Passion for Drawings, Collectors at the Courtauld, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 28/02/2002-09/06/2002

Peter De Wint, 1784-1849: A Bicentenary Exhibition, Stoke-on-Trent City Museum and Art Gallery, 24/11/1984-12/01/1985

Masters of the Watercolour - Watercolours from the Spooner
Collection, Holburne Museum of Art, Bath, 1969

The William Spooner Collection and Bequest, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 01/04/1968-01/07/1968

Early English watercolours, City Art Gallery, Leeds, 08/10/1958-23/11/1958 ...Less

Literature

The Spooner Collection of British Watercolours, Courtauld Institute Galleries; Huntington Library; Wordsworth Trust, 2005-06
cat. no. 69
ill. on p. 211

The William Spooner Collection and Bequest, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1968
cat. no. 76

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: Verso, lower centre: "CRESWICK" (not in Heawood).

Inscription: Former support (now cut down and in file, torn): graphite: “Distant View of the Clee Hills. Shropshire. from Oakly [the rest of the sheet has been torn away, but the file records that it continued “Park, near Ludlow”]; graphite, Colnaghi number: “A.21315 EL.”.

Collector's mark: none.

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