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Club of Demi-Sensibles

Maker

(artist)
1750-1818

Title

Date of Production

1787

Medium

graphite, pen and black ink, black wash, watercolour and touches of red bodycolour on laid paper, laid down on the artist's wash mount

Dimensions

Height: 28.9 cm
Width: 37.4 cm

Accession Number

D.1967.WS.67

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

Sociable and pleasure-seeking, Nixon was a keen member and secretary of the celebrated Sublime Society of Beefsteaks, one of a number of drinking clubs with eccentric names such as the one pictured here. The document headed ‘AN ACT for the [?] OF GAME’ read by a seated gentleman attired for hunting, together with the stag’s head and sporting pictures, suggest that this is a meeting of hunting club members. The creature under the table looks suspiciously like a fox. Typically, the only female present is a servant.

Provenance

presented by the artist to Mr Swainson; Mr and Mrs William Wycliffe Spooner, Ilkley (1882-1967); Spooner Bequest 1967

Exhibition History

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

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

English Water-Colours: Memorial Exhibition to William Wycliffe
Spooner, Harrogate, 1968 ...Less

Literature

The Spooner Collection of British Watercolours, Courtauld Institute Galleries; Huntington Library; Wordsworth Trust, 2005-06
cat. no. 26
ill. on p. 125

English Water-Colours: Memorial Exhibition to William Wycliffe Spooner, Harrogate, 1968
cat. no. 29

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermarks: none in the drawing. Artist’s Mount (apparently composed of two sheets of laid paper), Recto sheet: left centre edge: a Strasburg lily? Artist’s Mount, Verso sheet, left centre: Strasburg lily over “GR”; Countermark: right centre: “[…] & BRIDGES” (not found in Churchill or Heawood).

Collector's mark: none.

Inscription: Recto: within the drawing, upper right over mantle, grey ink: “CLUB oF DEMI SENSIBLES / Resolved. / that no Person Swear or Curse, on / pain of forfeting [sic] 6d. / That the Society meet on Thursd / the Club to consist of 31 Memb / that Seven Members be app / on Weighty concerns for the / Good of the Community / each Person to be Elected by B / GOD Save the King”; within the drawing, on newspaper at centre, grey ink: “AN ACT for the... / OF GAME / Whereas...”; lower left corner, black ink, signed and dated by the artist: “JNixon 1787.”. Artist’s Mount, Verso: centre, brown ink, dedicated and signed by the artist: “A Country Club / For _ Swainson Esqr / from his obliged Friend + Servant / J Nixon” [an elaborated signature with flourishes].

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