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Lot Essay
Paul Sandby is traditionally known as the 'father of English watercolor', and holds that title with good justification. His output over a long career represents the perfection of a style derived from earlier British, Italian and Dutch masters, to a point at which it fully expresses the outlook and atmosphere of Britain in the late 18th century.
Sandby's views are noted for both the sensitive depiction of atmosphere and architecture and a human element as they are nearly always populated with their proper inhabitants, studied with a deep affection and lively humor. To these qualities he added a sure sense of balance and elegance of composition even on rustic subjects like this view of a timber-yard on the Royal Estate at Windsor, where his elder brother Thomas, an architectural draughtsman, was Deputy to the Duke of Cumberland, King George II's second son, who since 1746 had held the position of Ranger of the Great Park.
The present watercolor shows the obvious delight Sandby took in depicting harmonious yet accurate details such as the barns and byres with insight into their function in the landscape, while at the same time adding them as picturesque objects. Picturesque, too, is the magnificent beech tree that towers over the buildings - Sandby, like other artists of his age, made a point of drawing his trees as recognizable species.
The Woodyard or Carpenter's Yard at Windsor was close to the Deputy Ranger's House, where Thomas Sandby lived. The Park was expected to produce more than enough timber for building, fencing, carts and wheelbarrows. Paul Sandby executed a large group of watercolors of the Woodyard in 1792. Four of these are in the Royal Collection (A.P. Oppé, The Drawings of Paul and Thomas Sandby at Windsor Castle, Oxford and London, 1947, nos. 91, 92, 94, 96, pls. 47-8), which were purchased at the Sandby studio sale in these Rooms in 1811 by Shepperd for the Prince Regent. It has been suggested that this series of drawings were the product of a period of convalescence spent by Paul Sandby with his brother, son and daughter-in-law at Windsor. The number of these wood yard views that survive among his works is indication enough that they gave him special pleasure. This one, with its engaging figures and idyllic atmosphere, is a particularly fine example.
There is also a small watercolor sketch depicting the right hand side of the present drawing, 7¼ x 11¼ in., dated 1792 and inscribed by the artist 'P.S. W.Y. W.P. [Paul Sandby Wood Yard Windsor Park]' previously with Spink, London, which gives the impression of being executed on the spot to be worked up later into a larger work. Other studies of the Woodyard, possibly showing the building depicted here, are in the British Museum as is one of the cart with its team of four bullocks and a man chaining a log to it.
The present watercolor and lot 90 have descended through the same family until their sale at Christie's in 2010. By family tradition they were probably acquired soon after the Sandby studio sale by Lieutenant General Sir William Cockburn of that Ilk, 6th Bt. (1769-1835), an enthusiastic amateur painter who lived in Bath. Sir William was friend with a number of artists notably Thomas Barker of Bath whose portrait of him, 1816, is now in the Victoria Gallery, Bath. His first cousin Major-General James Pattison Cockburn (1779-1847) joined the Royal Military Academy and studied drawing under Paul Sandby (see Paul Sandby, R.A. Picturing Britain, exhibition catalogue, Edinburgh, Nottingham and London, 2009-2010, p. 18). Major-General Cockburn is well known for his watercolors of Niagara Falls. Another cousin, Sir James Cockburn of Langton, 8th Bt. (1729-1804), commissioned Sir Joshua Reynolds in 1773 to paint his wife and their three eldest sons in the celebrated picture now in the National Gallery, London.
Sandby's views are noted for both the sensitive depiction of atmosphere and architecture and a human element as they are nearly always populated with their proper inhabitants, studied with a deep affection and lively humor. To these qualities he added a sure sense of balance and elegance of composition even on rustic subjects like this view of a timber-yard on the Royal Estate at Windsor, where his elder brother Thomas, an architectural draughtsman, was Deputy to the Duke of Cumberland, King George II's second son, who since 1746 had held the position of Ranger of the Great Park.
The present watercolor shows the obvious delight Sandby took in depicting harmonious yet accurate details such as the barns and byres with insight into their function in the landscape, while at the same time adding them as picturesque objects. Picturesque, too, is the magnificent beech tree that towers over the buildings - Sandby, like other artists of his age, made a point of drawing his trees as recognizable species.
The Woodyard or Carpenter's Yard at Windsor was close to the Deputy Ranger's House, where Thomas Sandby lived. The Park was expected to produce more than enough timber for building, fencing, carts and wheelbarrows. Paul Sandby executed a large group of watercolors of the Woodyard in 1792. Four of these are in the Royal Collection (A.P. Oppé, The Drawings of Paul and Thomas Sandby at Windsor Castle, Oxford and London, 1947, nos. 91, 92, 94, 96, pls. 47-8), which were purchased at the Sandby studio sale in these Rooms in 1811 by Shepperd for the Prince Regent. It has been suggested that this series of drawings were the product of a period of convalescence spent by Paul Sandby with his brother, son and daughter-in-law at Windsor. The number of these wood yard views that survive among his works is indication enough that they gave him special pleasure. This one, with its engaging figures and idyllic atmosphere, is a particularly fine example.
There is also a small watercolor sketch depicting the right hand side of the present drawing, 7¼ x 11¼ in., dated 1792 and inscribed by the artist 'P.S. W.Y. W.P. [Paul Sandby Wood Yard Windsor Park]' previously with Spink, London, which gives the impression of being executed on the spot to be worked up later into a larger work. Other studies of the Woodyard, possibly showing the building depicted here, are in the British Museum as is one of the cart with its team of four bullocks and a man chaining a log to it.
The present watercolor and lot 90 have descended through the same family until their sale at Christie's in 2010. By family tradition they were probably acquired soon after the Sandby studio sale by Lieutenant General Sir William Cockburn of that Ilk, 6th Bt. (1769-1835), an enthusiastic amateur painter who lived in Bath. Sir William was friend with a number of artists notably Thomas Barker of Bath whose portrait of him, 1816, is now in the Victoria Gallery, Bath. His first cousin Major-General James Pattison Cockburn (1779-1847) joined the Royal Military Academy and studied drawing under Paul Sandby (see Paul Sandby, R.A. Picturing Britain, exhibition catalogue, Edinburgh, Nottingham and London, 2009-2010, p. 18). Major-General Cockburn is well known for his watercolors of Niagara Falls. Another cousin, Sir James Cockburn of Langton, 8th Bt. (1729-1804), commissioned Sir Joshua Reynolds in 1773 to paint his wife and their three eldest sons in the celebrated picture now in the National Gallery, London.