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A Farmyard scene with cattle and pigs

Maker

1769-1844

Title

Date of Production

1812

Medium

graphite, watercolour, with scratching out, on wove paper, laid down on a cardboard secondary support

Dimensions

Height: 31.7 cm
Width: 43 cm

Accession Number

D.2022.ST.24

Mode of Acquisition

gift
The Spooner Charitable Trust, gift, 2022

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Label Text

Robert Hills (1769-1844) trained at the Royal Academy from 1788 and specialised in rural subjects, particularly farm animals. A watercolourist and etcher, he was one of the six founding members of the Old Watercolour Society in 1804; he exhibited some 600 works there over the course of his career. His talent at rendering animals was such that he was known to draw animals in works by other artists, including George Barret the younger and George Fennell Robson. This ambitious, highly finished studio watercolour represents a favourite subject for Hills. Both the animals and their setting are rendered in meticulous detail, undoubtedly based on first-hand sketches. Hills may have shown this work at the Old Water-colour Society’s annual exhibition in 1812.

Provenance

T. Haigh; Anonymous sale, Sotheby's, 13th November 1980, lot 32; Spink & Co., London, by 1982; private collection, UK; Guy Peppiatt, London, by 2022; purchased there by the Spooner Trust and given to The Courtauld, 2022

Exhibition History

From the Baroque to Today: New Acquisitions of Works on Paper, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 23/02/2024-27/05/2024

Literature

Wilcox, Timothy, The Triumph of Watercolour: the early years of the Royal Watercolour Society 1805-55, exh. cat., Dulwich Picture Gallery, London and Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester, London, 2005
cat. no. 17

Inscriptions

Watermark: none.

Inscription: Recto: lower right edge, brown ink, signed and dated by the artist: RHills.1812. Secondary support, Verso: lower right, black chalk: D779480 [last digit unclear].

Collector's mark: none.

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