'Lans Le Bourg'
Maker
(artist)
1791-1875
1791-1875
Title
'Lans Le Bourg'
Date of Production
1817
Medium
Graphite, pen and brown and black ink, brush and brown wash on wove paper
Dimensions
Height: 114 cm
Width: 197 cm
Width: 197 cm
Accession Number
D.2022.ST.16
Mode of Acquisition
The Spooner Charitable Trust, gift, 2022
Credit
The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)
Location
Not currently on display
Label Text
A talented amateur artist, Elizabeth Batty drew these finely observed views of the French Alps while undertaking a tour of France and Italy with her father in 1817. Remarkable for their delicate detail and subtle use of wash, they form part of a group of 44 drawings that were engraved and published to critical acclaim in London in 1820.
Batty's marriage in 1822 brought her artistic career to a premature end. The Italian tour drawings - the only ones by her hand that survive - have only recently been rediscovered.
Elizabeth Frances Batty (1791-1875) was a talented British amateur artist. She likely studied with the watercolourist and drawing master John Glover, OWS. Her sole known work is a group of pen, brush and wash drawings recording the journey she took through Italy in 1817 with her father, a doctor and fellow of the Linnaean Society. These drawings were engraved and published by the London firm of Rodwell & Martin in a volume in 1820 (Italian Scenery from Drawings made in 1817 by Miss Batty). Such books enjoyed a surge of popularity in Britain following the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the newfound accessibility of the Continent to British travellers. The publication was a critical success, with a contemporary critic describing the illustrations as showing Batty’s ‘eminent topographical taste’. Several of Batty’s drawings were also used as designs for transferware produced by the Staffordshire potters Enoch Wood & Sons. Despite the quality of her drawings, her artistic career seems to have been curtailed by her marriage in 1822 and no other work by her is known.
Forty-four of Batty’s drawings for Italian Scenery were only recently rediscovered, having long been erroneously attributed to her son. One of nine drawings now in The Courtauld’s collection, this delicately detailed composition shows ample evidence of the artist’s skill and powers of observation.
Batty's marriage in 1822 brought her artistic career to a premature end. The Italian tour drawings - the only ones by her hand that survive - have only recently been rediscovered.
Elizabeth Frances Batty (1791-1875) was a talented British amateur artist. She likely studied with the watercolourist and drawing master John Glover, OWS. Her sole known work is a group of pen, brush and wash drawings recording the journey she took through Italy in 1817 with her father, a doctor and fellow of the Linnaean Society. These drawings were engraved and published by the London firm of Rodwell & Martin in a volume in 1820 (Italian Scenery from Drawings made in 1817 by Miss Batty). Such books enjoyed a surge of popularity in Britain following the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the newfound accessibility of the Continent to British travellers. The publication was a critical success, with a contemporary critic describing the illustrations as showing Batty’s ‘eminent topographical taste’. Several of Batty’s drawings were also used as designs for transferware produced by the Staffordshire potters Enoch Wood & Sons. Despite the quality of her drawings, her artistic career seems to have been curtailed by her marriage in 1822 and no other work by her is known.
Forty-four of Batty’s drawings for Italian Scenery were only recently rediscovered, having long been erroneously attributed to her son. One of nine drawings now in The Courtauld’s collection, this delicately detailed composition shows ample evidence of the artist’s skill and powers of observation.
Provenance
Robert Braithwaite Martineau (1826-1849) and Edward Henry Martineau (1825-1901), children of Batty and Philip Martineau (1791-1860); then by descent; Bonhams, Knightsbridge, 20 March 2019 (lot 44), where incorrectly attributed to Edward Henry Martineau; purchased there by Abbott and Holder; sold to the Spooner Trust in 2021
Exhibition History
From the Baroque to Today: New Acquisitions of Works on Paper, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 23/02/2024-27/05/2024
Literature
Italian Scenery from Drawings made in 1817 by Miss Batty, Rodwell & Martin, 1820
Len Kling, ‘Wood’s Italian Scenery: Database Discoveries – Contribution #3’, Transferware Collectors Club newsletter, June 2012
Len Kling, ‘Wood’s Italian Scenery: Database Discoveries – Contribution #3’, Transferware Collectors Club newsletter, June 2012
Inscriptions
Mount (removed): Recto: lower centre right, pencil: "52942". Verso: lower right, pencil: "97423"
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