.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The publication of views of Britain in sequences of 'Picturesque Views' became increasingly popular throughout the late 18th and early 19th Century, with artists such as Joseph Farington (1747-1821), William Daniell (1769-1837), J.M.W. Turner, (1775-1851) and many others who travelled widely to capture the gamut of British landscape. Sandby was a pioneer in this activity, having imbibed the habit of travelling and drawing views early in his career as an employee of the Royal Ordnance recording the topography of the Highlands of Scotland.
A central achievement of his career was the publication of several series of views executed in aquatint, a new medium at this time, of which he was an early and important exponent, depicting many places in England and Wales. Sandby was in Shropshire between 1770-1771 in the employ of Sir Watkin Williams Wynn and executed sketches along the Severn Valley, which he later used as the basis for his watercolors and aquatints. A view of the castle similar to the present work was etched and aquatinted by Sandby and published by William Watts in 1778 (and another view of Shrewsbury Castle from the south by Sandby was engraved by Watts in 1777, for The Copper Plate Magazine.
The view is taken from Coton Hill and shows Severn barges under sail going downstream, presumably having negotiated the barge gutter on the right bank; it would have been necessary to lower the masts to pass under the Welsh Bridge, itself a favorite subject of Sandby's. The two spires on the horizon to the right of the picture are those of St. Mary's Church, one of the highest in England and St. Alkmund's Church. The square tower, above the houses to the left of the tree is probably the 1595 tower of the Shrewsbury School.
The castle, established close to the river for defensive purposes, was built by Roger de Montgomery in the years immediately following the Norman invasion of 1066. This view of Shrewsbury Castle predates the modifications by Thomas Telford in the later 1780. Sandby has depicted the lower of the two castle gates, which was in part or wholly removed around 1787 and the Great Hall of the castle, flanked by two round towers, which date from the time of King Henry III.
For a note on the provenance of this work, see lot 89.
A central achievement of his career was the publication of several series of views executed in aquatint, a new medium at this time, of which he was an early and important exponent, depicting many places in England and Wales. Sandby was in Shropshire between 1770-1771 in the employ of Sir Watkin Williams Wynn and executed sketches along the Severn Valley, which he later used as the basis for his watercolors and aquatints. A view of the castle similar to the present work was etched and aquatinted by Sandby and published by William Watts in 1778 (and another view of Shrewsbury Castle from the south by Sandby was engraved by Watts in 1777, for The Copper Plate Magazine.
The view is taken from Coton Hill and shows Severn barges under sail going downstream, presumably having negotiated the barge gutter on the right bank; it would have been necessary to lower the masts to pass under the Welsh Bridge, itself a favorite subject of Sandby's. The two spires on the horizon to the right of the picture are those of St. Mary's Church, one of the highest in England and St. Alkmund's Church. The square tower, above the houses to the left of the tree is probably the 1595 tower of the Shrewsbury School.
The castle, established close to the river for defensive purposes, was built by Roger de Montgomery in the years immediately following the Norman invasion of 1066. This view of Shrewsbury Castle predates the modifications by Thomas Telford in the later 1780. Sandby has depicted the lower of the two castle gates, which was in part or wholly removed around 1787 and the Great Hall of the castle, flanked by two round towers, which date from the time of King Henry III.
For a note on the provenance of this work, see lot 89.