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The Old Farm Garden

Maker

(artist)
1840-1875

Title

The Old Farm Garden

Date of Production

1871

Medium

graphite, watercolour with some gum arabic, bodycolour, scratching out, on wove paper (now browned from former acidic mount); the lower edge left blank and used as a palette to wipe the brush

Dimensions

Height: 30.2 cm
Width: 40.6 cm

Accession Number

D.2009.XX.10

Mode of Acquisition

Diana Mallinson, gift, 2009
Hugh Gorton, gift, 2009
Paul Gorton, gift, 2009

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

The combination of careful observation and poetic idealisation is characteristic of Frederick Walker’s landscapes, which often focus on solitary figures. Here, an elegant woman, modelled by the artist’s sister, calmly knits in a walled garden, unaware of the cat poised to pounce on her ball of wool. Admired for its bright colour and close attention to detail, this watercolour was considered by the influential art critic John Ruskin to be ‘worth all the Dutch flower-pieces in the world.’

Provenance

Frederick Lehmann, London (1826-1891), by 1876; by descent to his son, Rudolf Chambers Lehmann (1856-1929), by 1896; G.M. Cherry; purchased from him by Thomas Agnew & Sons (London), 6 July 1945; purchased there by Reverend J. Gordon Walker, Dorset, 18 February 1946; Olga M Walker (d.1974); by descent to his daughter, Marie Josephine Gorton, 1975; by descent to her daughter, Diana Mallinson, 2008; Diana Mallinson and Hugh and Paul Gorton Gift, 2009

Exhibition History

Drawings Gallery Display - Pen to Brush: British Drawings and Watercolours, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 18/11/2021-28/02/2022

Life, Legend, Landscape - Victorian Drawings and Watercolours, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 17/02/2011-15/05/2011

73rd annual exhibition of water-colour drawings, Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, 1946 (Jan.-Feb.) ...More

Winter Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1891

Frederick Walker, Robert Dunthorne's Gallery, London, 1885

Works of the Late Frederick Walker, A.R.A, London & England & UK, 1876 ...Less

Literature

Life, Legend, Landscape: Victorian Drawings & Watercolours, The Courtauld Gallery, 2011
no. 13
ill. on p. 73

Life, Legend, Landscape - Victorian Drawings and Watercolours, The Courtauld Gallery, 2011
cat. no. 13
ill. on p. 73

Davies, Randall, 'Frederick Walker A.R.A.' in 'The Old Water-Colour Society's Club', 1936-37; 14
p. 36 ...More

The Works of John Ruskin, London and New York, 1903-12 - 39 vols
pp. 343-344 (1904 vol.)

Black, Clementine, Frederick Walker, 1901
pp. 156, 159
ill. on p. 157

Marks, John George, Life and Letters of Frederick Walker, A.R.A., London and New York, Macmillian Co., 1896
pp. 227, 229
ill. on p. 228

Phillips, Claude, Frederick Walker and his works, London and New York, 1894
p. 57

'Fine Arts: The Royal Academy (Fourth Notice)' in 'The Athenaeum', 21 February 1891; 3304
pp. 256-57

Frederick Walker, Robert Dunthorne's Gallery, London, 1885
no. 9, p. 29

Exhibition of Works of the Late Frederick Walker, A.R.A., Deschamps' Gallery, London, 1876
no. 33 ...Less

Inscriptions

Inscription: F. W

Inscription: 4159 / 15 5/8 x 20 3/4 / 1" French //

Label: Thos. Agnew & Sons Ltd. No 11651 Fine Art Publishers To H. M. King George V. London 43 Old Bond Street Picadilly. W.

Label: 55. F.Walker. A.R.A. The old farm garden

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