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Summer flowers on a ledge

Maker

(Artists)
1744-1819

Title

Date of Production

1768

Medium

bodycolour on paper

Dimensions

Height: 27.9 cm (paper)
Width: 66 cm (paper)

Accession Number

D.1986.WS.64

Mode of Acquisition

Mary Spooner, gift, 1986

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

This work is a particularly fine example of bodycolour being used to imitate the appearance of oils. Renowned in her day for her flower paintings, Mary Moser was a founder member of the Royal Academy (1768). Her most important work was the elaborate floral decorations painted between 1792 and 1795 for Queen Charlotte at Frogmore House. Rather than botanically accurate arrangements, Moser’s depictions are often overlaid with allegorical symbols and references to the seasons. Plants such as roses and delphiniums are identifiable here, but their intense colour and placement on a rocky ledge is contrived.

Provenance

Sotheby's (London), 23 October 1957, lot 42; purchased there by Colnaghi (London); purchased there by Mrs Mary Spooner; Spooner Gift 1986

Exhibition History

Beyond the Real: British Still Life, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, 11/05/2024-20/10/2024

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

Second Nature, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 14/06/2000-03/09/2000

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

Literature

The Spooner Collection of British Watercolours, Courtauld Institute Galleries; Huntington Library; Wordsworth Trust, 2005-06
cat. no. 20
ill. on p. 113

The William Spooner Collection and Bequest, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1968
cat. no. 18

Inscriptions

Inscription: inscription : signed & dated & pen and ink : on backboard of frame : : Mary Moser Pinx 1768

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