The Morning of the Nativity

Details

FRANK CADOGAN COWPER, R.A. (1877-1958)
The Morning of the Nativity
signed and dated 'F.C. COWPER/ MCMVIII' (upper centre) and further signed and inscribed 'The Morning of the Nativity/ Frank Cadogan Cowper/ No. 1.' (on a label on the reverse)
pencil, watercolour and bodycolour on artist's board
35 ½ x 15 ½ in. (89.5 x 39.4 cm.)

Provenance

Anonymous sale; Gorringe's, Lewes, Sussex, 1971, where purchased for the present collection.

Literature

Every Woman's Encyclopaedia, I, 1912, frontispiece.

Exhibited

London, Old Water-Colour Society, 1908, no. 14.
London, Barbican Art Gallery, The Last Romantics, 1989, no. 160.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Adrian Hume-Sayer Director, Specialist

Lot Essay

This watercolour is the first of several versions of this subject - The Nativity Morning, an oil shown at the Royal Academy in 1916, probably shared its composition, while Our Lady of the Fruits of the Earth (sold in these Rooms, 15 December 2011, lot 23) repeats the essential design with some amendments to the details. John Christian suggested that the sheep looking over the wattle hurdling behind the Virgin must have been inspired by John Everett Millais' Carpenter's Shop (Tate).

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