James Ward, R.A.

Almost certainly purchased from the artist by William Wigram (1780–1858) in 1822;

Thence by descent to his half-brother, Henry Loftus Wigram (1791–1866);

Thence probably by family descent to Sir Frederick L.F. Fitzwygram, 4th Baronet (1823–1920);

Thence by family descent to the present owner.

E.J. Nygren, James Ward: Gordale Scar, exh. cat., Tate Gallery, London, 1983, p. 49, no. 30 (as dating to 1800–2);

Possibly E.J. Nygren, 'James Ward, RA (1769-1859) Papers and Patrons', in Walpole Society, vol. 75, 2013, p. 295, no. 218.

Possibly London, 6 Newman Street: the artist's residence, 1822, no. 14 or 94;

London, The Tate Gallery, James Ward: Gordale Scar, 3 November – 2 January 1983, no. 30.

This boldly painted study of a bull has traditionally been associated with the artist James Ward's monumental and sublime Yorkshire landscape of Gordale Scar, now in the collections at Tate Britain.¹ However, since its exhibition in London in 1983 it has instead been shown to relate to a painting known as The Great Bull in the Winnipeg Art Gallery, a work on canvas that Edward J. Nygren dates to 1802, not long after the present work, to which he assigns a dating of 1800–2.² The same animal features in another painting known as Cattle-piece, Marylebone Park, also in the Tate collection, dated to 1807 and thus later than the present work.³ Nygren suggests that the animal depicted here might be the 'bull of the original wild British breed, the property of Thomas Levett, Esq.', a picture that Ward exhibited at his house in Newman Street in 1822 (see Literature). A true tour de force of exuberant impasto, the landscape and colouring found here is particularly indebted to Flemish landscapes by artists such as Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640), whose work Ward is known to have greatly admired. A signed derivation of this composition, painted on canvas and with a less detailed landscape, appeared at auction in 1994.⁴

¹ Oil on canvas, 332 x 421 cm.; https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ward-gordale-scar-a-view-of-gordale-in-the-manor-of-east-malham-in-craven-yorkshire-the-n01043

² Oil on canvas, 65.1 x 83.2 cm.; https://www.wag.ca/art/collection/item/1442/?from=art-search

³ Oil on canvas, 74 x 117 cm.; https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ward-cattle-piece-marylebone-park-n01175

⁴ Oil on canvas, dimensions unknown; London, Philips, 13 December 1994, lot 51, unsold.