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The Gardener

Maker

(artist)
1790-1864

Title

The Gardener

Date of Production

c. 1825

Medium

graphite, pen and brown ink, watercolour and scratching out on laid paper

Dimensions

Height: 38.1 cm
Width: 26.7 cm

Accession Number

D.1967.WS.55

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

An inscription on an almost identical drawing to the Spooner version indicates that the man represented was head gardener to George Capel, Earl of Essex, a close friend and neighbour of Dr Monro at whose house Hunt frequently stayed. An enlightened patron, Lord Essex employed Hunt to paint at Cassiobury Park, his estate near Watford, and much of his work in the 1820s consisted of drawings of gamekeepers, gardeners, millers and other country folk, often humorous or sentimental in character.

Notes

There is a related drawing (a preliminary study?) in the Victoria and Albert Museum (P.10-1961), and several others have appeared on the art market (see images in file). One records this as a portrait of Thomas Hainge, a gardener at Cassiobury Park, the estate of the Earl of Essex near Watford. In The Courtauld's 2017 exhibition catalogue it was stated that this would be unlikely as Hainge was only in his twenties at the time (and it took longer to rise to the position of head gardener); but only judging from the sitter's features, it seems impossible to ascertain his age, and thus we should presume that the sitter is Hainge.

Provenance

Henry Scipio Reitlinger, Maidenhead (1882-1950); his estate sale, Sotheby's (London), 26 May 1954; purchased there by Colnaghi (London); purchased there by William Wycliffe Spooner, Ilkley (1882-1967), 27 April 1955 (£40); Spooner Bequest 1967

Exhibition History

William Henry Hunt: Country People, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 24/06/2017-17/09/2017

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

Londoners, Museum of London, 29/04/1987-02/08/1987

English Watercolours: The Spooner Collection and Bequest, City Art Gallery, Bristol, 11/05/1973-02/06/1973

Royal Academy of Arts Bicentenary Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 14/12/1968-02/03/1969

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

Literature

William Henry Hunt: Country People, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 2017
no. 9
ill. on p. 39

The Spooner Collection of British Watercolours, Courtauld Institute Galleries; Huntington Library; Wordsworth Trust, 2005-06
cat. no. 73
ill. on p. 219

Londoners, Museum of London, 1987
pl. XII ...More

John Witt, William Henry Hunt (1790-1864): Life and Work, with a catalogue (London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1982)
no. 324 (as The Vegetable Seller)
pl. 35

English Watercolours: The Spooner Collection and Bequest, City Art Gallery, Bristol, 1973
cat. no. 33

The William Spooner Collection and Bequest, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1968
cat. no. 81
pl. XVI ...Less

Inscriptions

Watermark: Recto, left centre edge, fragment: lower half of a Strasburg lily above a Whatman cursive "W" (see similar mark Churchill 415, though that is a posthorn and not a lily - dated 1782).

Inscription: Recto: lower right edge, brown ink, signed: "W. Hunt". Backboard (removed, recorded in object file): white chalk: "594". Mount (removed, recorded in 1986 conservation notes): Colnaghi number: "A 20175 CE".

Label: Frame (removed, in object file), Verso: typed in black ink: "W.H.Hunt, (1790 - 1864) / Ex. coll. Reitlinger"; printed in black ink: "ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS, LONDON, W.1 / BICENTENARY EXHIBITION / 1968-1969 / Artist William Henry Hunt / Title Vegetable-Seller-watercolour Serial No. / 360 / (cat. no. 81) / Owner Courtauld Institute of Art / This label to be affixed to the back of the frame (not the canvas) / of the picture. Please correct any particulars not properly given."; white chalk: "C.I.G. gold no. 14".

Collector's mark: none.

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