Sandhills, Witley (Master Hardy’s)

This cottage in Surrey, the home of a labourer named Hardy, was a favourite subject of Helen Allingham's during the seven years she lived in the area, and she painted it several times. This confident composition, made without a preliminary drawing, showcases her mastery of watercolour. Rather than use white opaque watercolour to achieve highlights, she scratched the surface to reveal the bare paper, creating an impression of cloud-shadowed light.

Allingham was the first woman to be admitted as a full member tot he Royal Watercolour Society. Her illustrations, published in magazines, were admired by other artists, including Vincent van Gogh.
Helen Allingham (1848-1926) trained at the Birmingham School of Design and the Royal Female School of Art in London (a predecessor of the Royal College of Art), establishing a successful career as a watercolourist and illustrator. Her illustrations, which appeared in publications such as The Graphic, were admired by Vincent van Gogh, while John Ruskin praised her watercolours, which focused on somewhat idealised rural subjects, especially cottages, and which show similarities of style and subject matter with those of Frederick Walker and Myles Birket Foster. Allingham was the first woman to be admitted as a full member of the Royal Watercolour Society, in 1890, and her work was shown at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

The present work depicts one of Allingham’s most typical subjects – a cottage and its surrounding garden – with great freshness and charm. Allingham moved to Sandhills, near Witley in Surrey, in 1881 and most of her work over the subsequent years was inspired by cottages in the surrounding area. ‘Master Hardy’s’ was such a cottage, tenanted by an elderly man, which provided subject matter for Allingham both inside and out, and she painted it more than once; other versions depicting clothes drying on the washing line outside this particular cottage are known. She exhibited watercolours of six cottages in the Witley area in 1886 (at The Fine Art Society in London) of which this work might be one; although Allingham never dated her watercolours, she had returned to live in London in 1888, meaning the present work was definitely painted during the Witley period between 1881-88. It is signed, very faintly, in the lower right corner, with the artist’s distinctive long tails on her initials. The work showcases Allingham’s eye for detail and her precise and skilful handling of watercolour, especially in her eschewal of any other media; no underdrawing is present and the highlights are achieved with very delicate scraping and scratching in, rather than white bodycolour.

Private collection; Fieldings Auctioneers, Stourbridge, 17 February 2023, lot 944 (£1150), where acquired by Newman Fine Art; where acquired by the Spooner Trust; gifted to The Courtauld November 2023

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