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Samuel Palmer, R.W.S
Estimate
250,000 - 350,000 USD
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Description
- Samuel Palmer, R.W.S
- A Church with A Boat and Sheep
- Pen and brown ink and wash heightened with scratching out
- 183 by 137 mm; 7¼ by 5 3/8 in
Provenance
Ivan Obolensky;
George A. Martin, Cleveland, Ohio;
by descent to his wife, Mrs George A. Martin, Cleveland, Ohio;
Mrs. Lytel Hull, Staatsburg, New York;
sale, New York, Sotheby's, 2 November 1977, part of lot 307;
with N.W. Lott and H.J. Gerrish Ltd.;
with Somerville and Simpson Ltd., London,
where acquired in 1979
George A. Martin, Cleveland, Ohio;
by descent to his wife, Mrs George A. Martin, Cleveland, Ohio;
Mrs. Lytel Hull, Staatsburg, New York;
sale, New York, Sotheby's, 2 November 1977, part of lot 307;
with N.W. Lott and H.J. Gerrish Ltd.;
with Somerville and Simpson Ltd., London,
where acquired in 1979
Exhibited
Possibly, London, Royal Academy, 1832;
New York, Davis & Langdale Company, Inc., British Drawings 1760-1925: A Loan Exhibition, 1985, no. 47;
London, British Museum & New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Samuel Palmer: Vision and Landscape, 2005-6, cat. no. 73
New York, Davis & Langdale Company, Inc., British Drawings 1760-1925: A Loan Exhibition, 1985, no. 47;
London, British Museum & New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Samuel Palmer: Vision and Landscape, 2005-6, cat. no. 73
Literature
G. Grigson, Samuel Palmer, The Visionary Years, London 1947, pp. 99 & 179, no. 95;
Idem., Samuel Palmer's Valley of Vision, 1960, p. 31, pl. 40;
The Burlington Magazine, December 1978, pl. 10;
R. Lister, Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of Samuel Palmer, Cambridge 1988, no. 80, no. 130
Idem., Samuel Palmer's Valley of Vision, 1960, p. 31, pl. 40;
The Burlington Magazine, December 1978, pl. 10;
R. Lister, Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of Samuel Palmer, Cambridge 1988, no. 80, no. 130
Condition
Hinge mounted in two places along the left edge to a modern cream mount. The original sheet has previously been supported with additional card supports to the four edges, verso. The remains of these supports are still partially visible verso. The medium remains remarkably fresh and vibrant throughout this highly atmospheric sheet. There are some very minor abrasions to the right edge and a very small nick to the lower right corner. Otherwise in very fine condition throughout. Sold in a carved giltwood frame.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
This extremely rare drawing dates to circa 1831 and as with all the works that Samuel Palmer created during his fabled ‘Shoreham period’, it is full of originality, intensity and sophistication.Palmer had first discovered the village of Shoreham, which lies some thirty miles to the south-east of London, in 1824 and over the next decade this rural part of Kent would intoxicate him. When looking back on his life, Palmer always considered these years to be amongst his happiest and it was undoubtedly at Shoreham that he created his boldest and most influential pictures.
During the latter part of the 1820s and early 1830s Palmer was the leading figure in an artistic brotherhood that referred to themselves as the ‘Ancients.’ The group included fellow artists Frederick Tatham, Edward Calvert, George Richmond, Henry Walter, Welby Sherman and Francis Oliver Finch, as well as Palmer’s cousin, the stock-broker, John Giles. These friends were united by their interest in medieval art, the assertion that ancient man was superior to modern and their idolisation of the great visionary painter and poet William Blake.
They regularly descended on Shoreham, firstly staying with Palmer at his dilapidated cottage – which was fondly known as Rat Abbey – and then, after 1828, at The Water House, a large home that Palmer’s father had leased near to the River Darent. There, the ‘Ancients’ deliberately turned their backs on a world rapidly becoming more modern and immersed themselves in the landscape, exploring it by day and often by night.
The present work is ‘an extremely fine and carefully worked’ example of Palmer’s monochrome drawings.1 Palmer himself referred to these as his ‘blacks’ and he seems to have exhibited a number of them at the Royal Academy in 1832.2 Other drawings from this group survive in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, the Tate Britain and the British Museum in London and the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester.3 As with those works, Palmer has here absorbed the landscape and atmosphere of Shoreham and conjured up an image of great poetry, which exudes not only a sense of spirituality but also a feeling of the pastoral idyll. Remarkably, he succeeds in conveying these powerful undercurrents through an exploration of light and shade, combined with a refined use of the ink and of scratching out.
The vast majority of surviving works that Samuel Palmer created while under the spell of Shoreham are now housed in international museums. Since the year 2000, only three comparable works by Palmer have appeared at auction and it is necessary to go back as far as 1995 to find the last time a major example of one of his ‘blacks’ was sold.4
1. W. Vaughan et al, Samuel Palmer 1805-1881 Vision and Landscape, exh. cat., London/New York 2005-6, p. 147
2. Ed. R. Lister, The Letters of Samuel Palmer, Oxford 1974, p. 57 (Letter to George Richmond, 21 September 1832)
3. Vaughan et al, exhib. cat., op.cit., 2005-6, nos. 72-79
4. See London, Christies, 7 July 2009, lot 47 (A Cornfield with Windmill and Spire seen under a Crescent Moon); London, Christies, 11 June 2003, lot 5 (The Golden Valley); London, Christies, 8 June 2000, lot 111 (Oak Tree and Beech, Lullingstone Park); London Sotheby’s, 12 April 1995, lot 97 (A Cornfield, Shoreham at Twilight)
During the latter part of the 1820s and early 1830s Palmer was the leading figure in an artistic brotherhood that referred to themselves as the ‘Ancients.’ The group included fellow artists Frederick Tatham, Edward Calvert, George Richmond, Henry Walter, Welby Sherman and Francis Oliver Finch, as well as Palmer’s cousin, the stock-broker, John Giles. These friends were united by their interest in medieval art, the assertion that ancient man was superior to modern and their idolisation of the great visionary painter and poet William Blake.
They regularly descended on Shoreham, firstly staying with Palmer at his dilapidated cottage – which was fondly known as Rat Abbey – and then, after 1828, at The Water House, a large home that Palmer’s father had leased near to the River Darent. There, the ‘Ancients’ deliberately turned their backs on a world rapidly becoming more modern and immersed themselves in the landscape, exploring it by day and often by night.
The present work is ‘an extremely fine and carefully worked’ example of Palmer’s monochrome drawings.1 Palmer himself referred to these as his ‘blacks’ and he seems to have exhibited a number of them at the Royal Academy in 1832.2 Other drawings from this group survive in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, the Tate Britain and the British Museum in London and the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester.3 As with those works, Palmer has here absorbed the landscape and atmosphere of Shoreham and conjured up an image of great poetry, which exudes not only a sense of spirituality but also a feeling of the pastoral idyll. Remarkably, he succeeds in conveying these powerful undercurrents through an exploration of light and shade, combined with a refined use of the ink and of scratching out.
The vast majority of surviving works that Samuel Palmer created while under the spell of Shoreham are now housed in international museums. Since the year 2000, only three comparable works by Palmer have appeared at auction and it is necessary to go back as far as 1995 to find the last time a major example of one of his ‘blacks’ was sold.4
1. W. Vaughan et al, Samuel Palmer 1805-1881 Vision and Landscape, exh. cat., London/New York 2005-6, p. 147
2. Ed. R. Lister, The Letters of Samuel Palmer, Oxford 1974, p. 57 (Letter to George Richmond, 21 September 1832)
3. Vaughan et al, exhib. cat., op.cit., 2005-6, nos. 72-79
4. See London, Christies, 7 July 2009, lot 47 (A Cornfield with Windmill and Spire seen under a Crescent Moon); London, Christies, 11 June 2003, lot 5 (The Golden Valley); London, Christies, 8 June 2000, lot 111 (Oak Tree and Beech, Lullingstone Park); London Sotheby’s, 12 April 1995, lot 97 (A Cornfield, Shoreham at Twilight)