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On the side of Lake Lugano

Maker

(artist)
1749-1831

Title

Date of Production

(circa) 1781

Medium

graphite and watercolour on laid paper

Dimensions

Height: 44.1 cm
Width: 30.8 cm

Accession Number

D.1967.WS.89

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

John ‘Warwick’ Smith travelled to Italy in 1776 under the patronage of the 2nd Earl of Warwick, from whom his middle name may have derived. On his return trip through the Swiss Alps with Francis Towne he painted this composition from the side of Lake Lugano, employing a close viewpoint to convey more dramatically the grandeur of the setting. His painterly style and distinctive blue-green and russet colours made him one of the most admired watercolourists of his day.

Notes

Smith spent time in Italy with his patron, the Earl of Warwick, from 1776-81. As a ‘colourist’, his use of watercolour is characteristically warm and saturated.

Provenance

Fine Art Society (London); purchased there by Mr and Mrs William Wycliffe Spooner, Ilkley (1882-1967), 27 June 1941 (£8.8s); 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

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

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

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. 24
ill. on p. 121

English Water-Colours: Memorial Exhibition to William Wycliffe Spooner, Harrogate, 1968
cat. no. 11

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: centre: Strasburg lily over filigree "W" (see partial drawing in file; 18 cm high, 2.8 cm between chain lines, not found in Churchill or Heawood).

Inscription: Verso: lower right, graphite: "6"; lower centre, graphite, encircled: "2256" and below that in graphite "On the side of the Lake of Lugano".

Collector's mark: none.

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